


Blue Haze

by Lonyn



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2018-12-03 16:10:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11535762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonyn/pseuds/Lonyn
Summary: Sequel to Fickle Game. With the Meridian mission settled, Emun Ryder as Pathfinder sets off with her brother Shannon Ryder on board the Tempest to investigate a new golden world: Habitat-8. There are many mysteries surrounding this new planet, it shows signs of being like Earth with an intelligent, and very old species already inhabiting it. Old relationships are tested, new ones are formed, and Shannon Ryder struggles to find his place alongside his sister and within the Andromeda galaxy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading and loving Fickle Game so much! So I've decided to hop into something new that won't have the luxury of an established story like the first game. It was nice having a guideline for Fickle Game, but I'm diving right on in to Blue Haze and coming up with some new stuff along the way! Wish me luck, and I hope you guys like it ^^ Thanks again for stopping by!

            “Ryders—”

            “ _Pathfinder._ ”

            “ _Ryders._ ” Shannon glanced beside him to his twin; Emun didn’t show it, but he could practically see the agitation that was swirling on her face as they looked down at Addison. He had to chuckle a moment, pursing his lips when the colony director shot him a glare. “Nice of you to finally wake up and be a productive member of the society, Shannon.” She bit at him now that she was annoyed enough to take her attention away from Emun to him.

            “Shite,” He practically guffawed, “who pissed in your Blasto’s this morning, Addi?” He heard Emun snort next to him, and they watched the red creep into Addison’s face. “What’d you do, Em?” He chuckled a little more, finding his sister smirking.

            “You both are a pain in my ass. I still think Alec would’ve been better.”

            “You made that clear plenty of times.” Emun spoke evenly and Shannon straightened only slightly.

            “I think she’s done a pretty damn good job, yeah? I don’t know if da would’ve been as delicate as she was.”

            “Delicate?” Addison spoke incredulously. “Like the way shit was handled on Kadara? If she wasn’t fucking the number two crime boss there, we may have been able to recruit back… Ugh. No, never mind. I’m not going to let you Ryder’s bait me.” Shannon saw the slight twitch at Emun’s brow. She’d done well to keep she and Reyes a secret, and Reyes’s identity, but apparently word had gotten out, and he could see Emun wasn’t exactly pleased.

            “We’re not baiting you,” Shannon interjected, “you started it anyway.”

            “I swear to god, if I have to deal with any more of you immature twenty year olds I’m going to scream. How Alec—”

            “Pathfinder,” Emun interrupted, narrowing her eyes at her still casual use of their father’s first name and the woman glared back at the two of them.

            Shannon tried to purse his lips to keep from spewing out any more laughter; this Pathfinder business alongside Emun was going to be a lot more fun than he thought if they kept this up. His sister jammed her elbow into his side, and he took it as his cue to behave for now.

            Addison let out another dragged sigh, shaking her head. “Can we get to the point, _children_?” He saw Emun bristle once again; she’d told him about how she’d made that backhanded comment about not being their new mother and he knew it bothered her. Addison really wasn’t doing herself any favors today.

            “How about you forgo the mum and children shite and get to the point, Addison? We’re not your kids and you’re not our new mother, remember?”

            She crossed her arms and he nudged Emun at her shoulder. He had her back, he knew what made her riled up and he was glad he was finally able to stand by her side to give her support, that he was finally okay and well enough to be with her.

            “There’s a planet almost completely surrounded by the scourge. The Angara said it’s been that way for as long as they could remember. We’ve managed to get some minor scans of the planet. It’s more Earth’s twin than Habitat 7.”

            “Whoa, really?” His eyes widened. This could be an exciting opportunity, he thought. Minus the scourge part.

            “Yes. We want to send the Tempest in. Kallo has experience navigating around the scourge. If there’s a chance we—”

            “Why wasn’t this planet discovered prior to the Andromeda mission?” Emun asked, blunt and observant as ever.

            “We don’t know. Ask Jien.”

            “Classy.” Shannon scoffed.

            “Look, we don’t know why it wasn’t advertised, we don’t know if they were already checking it out. There might be intelligent life there. We. Don’t. Know. That’s why we want you, Ryder, to head to the system and see if we can get some recon done.”

            They stared at her for a moment before they both uttered, “Pathfinder.”

            “Ugh, go talk to Tann, I’m done with the both of you.” She walked away from them to get back to her own work; she really was a lot more busy these days, and seemed to be doing better with her job. Shannon couldn’t care less, and he let out a short laugh nonetheless.

            “You’re right, that was fun.”

            “Guess it’s time for you to officially suit up.” Emun said, and he watched her smile his way.

            “I’m psyched! I’ve been waiting too long for this!”

            “Same.”

            “I suppose we’re stopping by Kadara,” He grinned at her, “gotta get one last pre-mission shag, yeah?”

            “Shut up,” She pushed him and he chuckled, until he saw a look on her face he hadn’t seen yet.

            “What? What’s wrong? Trouble in paradise? I thought you and Reyes were good.”

            “For now.”

            “Don’t tell me you’re looking for a way out?” He groaned, “Aren’t you happy?”

            “No one was supposed to know, Shan, so why does Addison fucking know about it?” She pulled him to the side away from people passing by.

            “I don’t know. I thought you two were being careful.” He agreed. “And I thought he was being careful about his involvement. That’s not like it means things should be different, Em.”

            “It means everything’s different.” She frowned, crossing her arms.

            Shannon rolled his eyes, his sister was always a flight risk when it came to feelings. She didn’t get close to squad members, and she certainly didn’t get close to lovers. That he knew of anyway. It was a whirlwind for her for sure, and now that she’d had time to sit and assess she was doubting. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

            “Don’t you love the bastard?” He asked. “He’s crazy about you.”

            “I do… It’s…” She paused, and he turned around to look and see someone approaching them. It was her!

            “Hey, long time no see, Ryder.” She grinned as she made her way over. Golden brown hair still piled high in a messy updo, and a friendly smile upon olive skin, freckles, and familiar light blue eyes.

            For a moment he stared at her, then his sister who was staring back at him. “Oh, right, this is Loma Byford. Loma, this is my sister—”

            “Emun Ryder.” Loma smiled. “Nice job with everything. Sorry you had some nasty run ins there. Seeing you in action was pretty cool though.”

            “Thanks,” Emun said slowly. “You’re the one Shannon ran into a bit ago? In the cryo bay?”

            “Yes.” She nodded.

            “What brings you over here?” Shannon asked, and she pointed her thumb back towards Tann’s office.

            “Meeting with the big pants in charge. I’m being reassigned apparently. To your crew.”

            “Really?” Emun raised her brows.

            “Yeah, my lead science guy and I are going to be tagging along. Since you had a couple openings they wanted to put a “bio squad” onboard the Tempest in case you come across anything helpful to our research.”

            “For curing diseases?” Emun pressed and glanced back at Shannon. Since their little run in at cryo he and Emun had seen the full extent of Alec’s memory trigger. He couldn’t let mum die, and he couldn’t let Ellen wake up in a world where she had lost one of her children. Shannon could see that revelation hurt a little more for Emun than she wanted to admit. It always stung to see that they were never their father’s top priority.

            “Yeah, that’s the plan anyway. We’re hoping you don’t come across anything hazardous, but Wes can take care of it, as I’m sure Dr. T’Perro can as well. Wes is my science guy. He’s the brain I’m his brawn; though now we’ve got more brawn than brain I suppose.”

            Shannon saw her glance up at him and he narrowed his eyes at her. “Hah. Funny.”

            “I’m only shitting with you.” She waved a hand. “So should we go talk to Tann?”

 

\---

 

            Emun felt the freshened air of Kadara hit her skin as she made her way down the ramp of the Tempest. Shannon had scolded her and told her she needed to think about this a little more; he knew her better than she knew herself it seemed, because she didn’t know what she was going to do.

            She felt uneasy, and it’d been creeping into her thoughts the longer she’d had idle time to think. She did love Reyes, she’d never felt something like this before, yet those scary feelings of doubt were beginning to hit her. She couldn’t explain it, but she needed to see him to quell these doubts and fears.

            It didn’t help though that somehow their secret had gotten loose, that she and Reyes Vidal were together, and somehow the Nexus leadership knew he was the Charlatan, but they were willing to keep things quiet since he was doing a lot of good for Kadara. It unnerved her though that they knew, and she wanted to know if he had anything to do with it. She’d thought they’d been on the same page when it came to their relationship, but she supposed they should’ve verbalized it better.

            She took the lift down to the slums, things were looking a little different, and down here it was actually looking a lot better. A lot of good had been going on the past few months, and she knew Reyes and Keema were hard at work to make that happen.

            The familiar pulse of music hit her as she made her way into Tartarus, seeing Kian beam at her as she walked up to his bar.

            “Aye, good to see you, love! Long time no see.” He grinned her way, wiping down a glass and pouring her a drink.

            “It’s good to see you too.”

            “Business is booming since you were last here.” He said, and began to chuckle when she downed her glass of scotch.

            “That was good.”

            “I’ve been able to obtain some better scotch, just for you. Don’t tell Reyes, though, he doesn’t care for your kind of scotch and rather I do my best to find better whiskey.” She nodded, watching as he poured another for her. “You’re not looking too thrilled to be here. I thought you both were good now.”

            “We’re fine.” She lied, feeling the unease creeping back into her belly. “There’s a big mission coming up.”

            “Ah, he’s not going to like that. Please tell me it’s an easy in and out at Eos or something?”

            She shook her head. “Undiscovered territory.”

            “Ah, shite.” He shook his head again. “Well, you’ll probably find him in his flat. Heard you’d touched down so he went there first.”

            She nodded, taking down the rest of her drink and he let her behind the bar so she could head down the hallway to the back. She was at his door in the little alcove a moment later, and it opened. He’d dressed down, probably about to head to see her, and she felt the joy of his grin on his face as he pulled her in to kiss her breath away.

            She melted into him, wrapping her arms around his neck for a moment before pulling away and leaving him confused.

            “What’s wrong?” He asked slowly and she shook her head. “You already had a few drinks.”

            She shrugged, trying to play it off. “So have you.”

            “I’m always drinking,” He tried to joke, but even that fell flat. “What’s going on?”

            She let out a sigh, leaning against the counter in his little kitchen. “We’ve got a new mission.”

            He blew out a sigh. “Alright… What is it?”

            “Addison and Tann are calling it Habitat-8. From the scans they’ve managed to get it’s supposedly a virtual clone to Earth.”

            “And? The catch?”

            “Don’t know, aside from it being surrounded by the scourge.”

            He scoffed, “So what do they expect you to do?”

            “They think Kallo can navigate through it. Then Pathfind as to be expected?”

            He blew out a sigh, hand to his forehead. “I don’t like the sound of this.”

            “You don’t like anything that isn’t well detailed and planned.”

            “Obviously.” He said, leaning his back against the countertop next to her. “So tell me what else is wrong?”

            “Who have you told about us?”

            He laughed, crossing his arms. “You’re blaming me for idle chatter? People talk, Emun.”

            “Nexus leadership?” She said, then watched his jovial grin fall. “Addison was pretty blunt about who I was fucking.”

            “Shit,” he shook his head.

            “And they know you’re the Charlatan.”

            “What?”

            “Tann had a private meeting with me after the mission brief. So yes, they know.”

            He frowned, narrowing his eyes at her. “And your first thought was that I told them? Why would I do that? I don’t want them knowing. You know I prefer being right where I’m at, behind the scenes of all of this. They didn’t even know who I was on the Nexus, and I liked it that way.”

            “You’re too careful.” She accused and he shot a look at her.

            “Why are you trying to pick a fight with me?” He asked, “What happened? I know we’ve been apart for a while, what do you think I did?”          

            She let out a sigh, “Nothing—”

            “Then what’s all this really about?”

            “Maybe I’m not… cut out for this.” She couldn’t look at him.

            “So… Just like that you don’t love me anymore? Everything we’ve worked for?”

            “I do love you, I’m just…”

            “Scared? I thought we talked about this, I’m right here,” He eased in front of her, sliding his hand along her neck and into her hair, trying to get her to look at him. It was so easy to listen to him, so easy to want to fall all over again despite the fear in her mind. “Don’t be scared of us.”

            Instead of looking directly at him she pressed her lips to his, slowly kissing him. She felt the press of his lips against hers, the weight of his body as she bent a little back over the counter. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, the taste of whiskey was like being at home and she felt the heat running through her veins, intoxicating her further. She began to unbutton his shirt, and after a moment he parted from her.

            “Are you okay?” He asked her, trying to assess if her fears had been successfully batted away and she nodded, though she wasn’t sure if she was lying to herself or not. She just knew that she wanted him, and continued to unbutton his shirt the rest of the way as she slipped it from his shoulders.

            “You should’ve been naked when I first saw you,” She breathed, and he chuckled against her lips as he settled his mouth back to hers.

            “That would’ve been awkward parading my way to the Tempest. Enjoyable for all though I suppose,” He rumbled, and she felt her breath leaving her as he rolled his hips into hers, letting her feel that he was already hard and aching for her.

            She felt his lips trailing down her neck, his hands pulling her shirt from her pants and tossing it off to the side along with her bra mere moments later. He continued to trail kisses down her chest, and feeling his mouth touch home to her more sensitive spots was clouding any doubt she may have had for the moment.

            It wasn’t long before he had them both undressed, hiking her up onto the counter and she looked down to watch him ease himself inside of her. Sucking in a breath she wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling herself onto him faster and listening to him groan. She panted into his shoulder, his hands clutching her thighs as he rocked out and back inside of her.

            A fleeting thought told her she would miss this, miss the way he knew exactly what to do with her, and she hated that that thought crept into her mind at this moment. She found his lips, pleading in her mind that he could make her forget the fear, but it was tearing at the back of her thoughts and she didn’t know why. She hated being so logical, so practical; she wanted to be loved and to love and she had him right here. She pushed him back.

            “Bed,” She said, hopping down before he could get a sense of what she was thinking. She straddled him once there, taking the control for herself for a change. He could sense her desperation though, and he sat up to hold her in place.

            “Baby, calm down,” He frowned at her, panting, trying to catch his breath. “Talk to me.”

            “Reyes,” She whined, writhing against him. “I need you.”

            He rolled them over, and he thrust inside her hard. She moaned at how he knew just what to do to hit the right spot. “Touch yourself,” he grunted, and she let her hand wander down between them to stroke herself. “Yes,” he growled against her lips, “just like that,” and she was finding it hard to catch her breath.

            She faltered, wrapping her leg around his waist as she met his thrusts and felt herself finally come undone, holding him tight as he stuttered, spending himself a moment later with a moan of his own. She didn’t want to let him go, didn’t want to let this feeling of bliss leave her, and he kissed the breath away from her once more.

            If he knew something was wrong he didn’t say it again, but after a few more rounds of wearing each other out, he wasn’t saying much as he lay there sleeping. She laid on her side staring out into the dark of the room, listening to his quiet breathing behind her. She blew out a soft sigh, moving to sit at the edge of the bed. He didn’t need to deal with her bullshit, especially when it was bullshit that she didn’t exactly understand herself. She glanced back down at him feeling guilty about this already, but she couldn’t fight what was going on in her head.

            It was better to get out now in case something happened on this new world, right? It would lessen the blow if he was already free of her. She eased back down, kissing him softly, listening to the sleepy grunt that escaped him. “I love you… But it scares me…” She swallowed, and she picked up the pieces of her discarded clothes and quietly made her way out.

 

\---

 

            He’d already destroyed a few things by now. He wasn’t used to feeling so helpless, not in control, but Emun had dealt him a hard blow. He’d found her note: _I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore._ He thought it was a cruel joke; yet she was gone and she wasn’t answering her comms. He knew it. He could see it in her eyes, but he wanted to believe that everything could be alright. Just a couple months ago she had hidden his clothes just to keep him with her longer. Laughing over a silly card game with her brother and friends.

            He couldn’t believe that it’d come down to this. Something had happened, and he was afraid it wasn’t anything that he could fix this time, nothing that he’d even done to cause her to flee.

            It wasn’t even his fault this time, or perhaps the fault was within how much he loved her. Maybe they told each other too soon? Maybe if they hadn’t brought it up, she wouldn’t be leaving for a dangerous mission without him, without his support, and they’d be saying a sad goodbye at the ramp to the Tempest rather than her already being gone.

            He threw the empty glass of whiskey against the wall this time. It shattered, landing amongst the other items already pieced against the floor. Maybe she never did love him? Maybe she only said it so he could keep pretending and living in the fantasy they’d created. He felt his heart crumbling. How could he be so stupid to fall for someone that fast? Yet, he’d be stupid all over again just to have her in his arms, to dance with her again.

            He felt the ache hit him hard, grabbing the bottle and taking a pull. Why did he think he could have it all?


	2. Chapter 2

            Shannon and Liam made their way back on board the Tempest, hauling a cart that had a bunch of supplies on it. Vetra had to take care of some word of mouth business and gave them a list of things that the Tempest would need. Kadara had become an excellent stopping point for a lot of supplies.

            It was bustling better than Eos, and Shannon had no doubt that Reyes and Keema were behind that. Reyes definitely knew how to smooth talk anyone, and Keema’s Angaran connection was crucial to making the Angara at least mildly pleased about being part of what was once their port. It seemed like Reyes was filtering more power their way as well from what Emun had told him, and more and more Angara were slowly filtering back into the mix. It was a good thing, but Emun had also confessed to Shannon that if she was given the choice to give Kadara back to the Angara she would do it, and he almost wondered if that was also on her mind about her feelings.

            Shannon had an uneasy feeling however knowing that Emun was having trouble with her feelings, and seeing Reyes during this time was probably not in her best interests. He started to think they should’ve gotten most of their supplies on the Nexus or went to Eos or Aya. He liked seeing the way she was with Reyes, and he hated to think of what she might’ve done.

            When they entered the cargo hold he spotted her hauling a few crates into an organized area with Drack and he halted his progress. This couldn’t be good. He assumed she was still with Reyes, and he could see the faraway look on her face.

            “Emun, what’re you doing back so soon?”

            “I’ve been back.” She said evenly, and he saw Liam grimace beside him.

            “Yeah, round two in the morning,” Gil shouted from above. “Nearly scared the piss out of me when she did. Wasn’t expecting that.”

            Emun gave no reaction, something he was used to seeing back before they came to Andromeda. He made his way towards her, wanting to have a chat with her. “Hey, can we talk?”

            “Shan, there’s nothing to talk about.” She said, and he shook his head, beginning to push her towards her room.

            “We’re talking.”

            “There’s nothing to talk about.”

            “Still gonna talk.” He said, and when they’d gotten to her room he shut the door. “What happened?”

            She crossed her arms, “It’s done.”

            “What’s done?”

            “He and I are over. That’s it.” She said, and he could almost see the flicker of guilt cross her eyes.

            “Jeez, Em, what’d you do? Leave a fucking note and skip out in the middle of the night?” When she averted his gaze his eyes widened. “Good god, are you fucking serious? You didn’t?”

            “It’s better that he’s angry with me than anything else…”

            “Why?” He asked, shaking his head. “You can be so goddamned thick, sis! When we were both battered and bruised he poured his heart out to me about you! He loves you, and I know you love him!”

            “I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”

            “Why? Cause you might be human and feel something for a change?” He watched the frown on her face turn even more sour.

            “Since when did you fucking grow up?” She bit back and he was taken by surprise. “Leave me to my damned business. It’s over, why do you care anyway? You don’t even like him!”

            “When I didn’t think he was any good for you, yeah, but seeing that he was, of course I liked him.”

            “Then by all means continue to be his best friend. I don’t fucking care.”

            Shannon shook his head in disbelief. “SAM, what’s going on?”

            She let out a frustrated sigh. “Really?”

            _“I’m sorry, Shannon. Emun has explicitly stated that this subject is something she does not wish to discuss. There’s no way for me to ‘fix’ this.”_

            “Leave me alone.” She ordered, which caused him to throw his hands up in the air.

            “You know what, fine, ruin your fucking happiness. Fuck this.” He left her quarters, heading straight past the cargo hold and back out into Kadara. He was on his comm trying to contact Reyes, but found the man wasn’t picking up.

            He went down to Tartarus first, speaking with Kian and finding Reyes was already gone, and not exactly sober to begin with. He figured as much, the guy was head over heels for his sister, he couldn’t imagine Reyes was in a good state of mind, especially if she left a note and bolted in the middle of the night.

            His next stop was to Keema’s compound. He didn’t want to take too long, as he was already being pinged by Vetra that they were leaving soon. He could feel a headache coming on; he still felt weary and fatigued from time to time with everything that had gone on, but he needed to speak to Reyes first. Hopefully he could convince the man not to do anything too rash because Emun wasn’t thinking straight.

            Once inside, the Angara let him through, knowing who he was well enough by now and he saw Keema sitting on her throne, flipping through data on her screen. She noticed Shannon’s approach and he could see a slight smile.

            “Ah, Shannon Ryder, how are you this morning?”

            “I’m fine, apparently everyone else isn’t.” He stopped in front of her throne, placing his hands on his hips. He could see her cringe. “So you’ve seen Reyes.”

            “Yes, I have. He didn’t offer much, but I haven’t seen him like this since Emun found out about you know what. However, then he was angry with himself, now…”

            “She got cold feet,” he shrugged, “One minute everything seemed fine, then boom, she was scared. I guess too much idle time to think about things in too much detail. I don’t know. Everything’s been different since I woke up here. My family’s a worse mess than before.”

            Keema smiled at him, “You’re a sweet man, Shannon.”

            He snorted, “Yeah, not really… I’ve gotten by on shitty luck and charm. Now… Here. Well, that’s a different story.” He crossed his arms. “Is Reyes around? Maybe I can chat with him; convince him my sister just needs some time.”

            The Angara nodded, “He’s around here somewhere. He was looking for some more supplies. Probably the first room to your right from where you entered.”

            Shannon left, going back the way he came until he’d come across the storage room. Crates were littered everywhere, some were broken, and he heard a loud thump followed by a grunt and some curses.

            “Reyes?” He called out, and silence seemed to scream out at him. “I know someone’s at least in here.”

            “Go away.” Reyes’s voice answered him from whatever little alcove he’d been in, while Shannon leaned against a wall.

            “Nope, can’t do that.” He watched as Reyes finally popped his head from an upper section. “You look like _shit_.” Shannon commented and Reyes got down from the alcove holding a couple bottles of liquor.

            “I’m fine.” He could see the anger on his face.

            “You both are rubbish at this.”

            “For a change, I’m not the one who fucked this up.” Reyes practically snarled.

            “You don’t understand—”

            “I understand perfectly, Shannon. Emun doesn’t love me, she never did. Why the fuck would she have left me like this?”

            “She’s always been like this… She has problems with feeling things, I thought you understood that.”

            “Maybe I did.” He set the bottles down on one of the more sturdy crates. “I did what I could to make her understand how much I cared about her.”

            “So that’s it then? You’re both just going to give up?”

            “I’m not the one gave up!” Reyes shouted. “I _never_ gave up on us!”

            Shannon placed his hand to his forehead trying to will the headache away. “Looks bloody well like you are.”

            “Grow up, Shannon.” Reyes finally shook his head. “Sometimes shit happens. You move on and get the fuck over it. So leave. Both of you can fucking leave.”

            “Fine. Keep hurting each other. See if I give a shite anymore… Fucking assholes, both of you.” He muttered, heading towards the door and he could swear he heard the soft utterance of ‘I’m sorry.’ He didn’t care though, his head was beginning to throb and he was done trying to play the middle ground.

            He’d be on his sister’s side no matter what, even if he thought she was sabotaging herself, but it didn’t mean he had to like either of them at the moment. He made his way through the port when he heard his name and he turned to see Loma heading his way and her science officer Wes went in the direction of the Tempest.

            “Hey, you alright? You look like you’re in pain.” Loma commented and Shannon shook his head.

            “It’s nothing. Headache.”

            “You should probably still take it easy. Dr. T’Perro briefed us on your condition.”

            “I don’t _have_ a condition. I’m fine.” Shannon glared at her.

            She held her hands up. “Hey, you want to pass out in the middle of the Kadaran marketplace, be my guest, but I’ll have to haul your ass back to the Tempest, which I’d prefer not to do. But I’ll do it, and I’ll make sure everyone knows I did it too.”

            Shannon had to blink a few times at the woman. He’d seen enough vids of Commander Shepard and some of her mannerisms, the way she spoke. It was driving him a little crazy how closely she resembled the Commander.

            “What?” She asked slowly, small smirk coming to her lips.

            “Are you by any chance related—”

            She shook her head, letting out a sigh. “Yeah. Yep. I’m Shepard’s cousin.”

            “I fucking knew it.” Shannon snapped his fingers. He watched her roll her eyes.

            “Yeah, found that out when I joined the Alliance.”

            “You didn’t know?” They began to walk together towards the Tempest and he rubbed at his temple to ease the pain that was just starting to fade a little.

            “Nope. Shepard was an orphan remember? My mom lost touch with her oldest sister after she left the reservation. She didn’t even know what happened to her. She just disappeared. When I joined the Alliance they saw that I had a DNA match to Shepard and did some digging and found out we were related.” She shrugged. “It’s not like I ever met her. I’d prefer not everyone know that, by the way.”

            “Others don’t know?”

            “No. Maybe the Nexus high command, but I just played it off whenever someone asked if I was related or knew her. I don’t want to be known as Shepard’s relative.” She laughed. “That’s too much to live up to with everything she did with Saren. Then she had that stigma with Cerberus and yeah. Not Shepard, don’t want everyone to think I can _be_ Shepard.”

            “You look like her.”

            She scoffed, “Hardly.”

            He chuckled, “A bit.”

            “You some kind of fan?” She teased and Shannon immediately put up his defenses.

            “What? No! She was cool, yeah, but—not a fan no.”

            She laughed a little more, “Well, maybe it’s to my advantage if you are,” She smirked at him and he stopped, seeing her playful grin as she backed away from him then turned to wander ahead of him. He let out a groan, he definitely was attracted to her, and admittedly it’d been a long while since he’d had any fun between the sheets, but he’d never hear the end of it if Emun found out that Loma was Commander Lonyn Shepard’s long lost cousin.

            Then again… If she was up for some fun, who was he to deny that? He followed after her and made his way back onto the Tempest. The crew was set for one last stop at Aya before they left for Habitat-8 and he had to admit he was extremely excited, though a bit nervous. This is what he wanted, new adventures, new opportunities; a clean slate. Not the bullshit he had to wake up into.

            It’d been hard ever since he finally woke up. He still had nightmares of being trapped in an endless sleep. He didn’t want to burden Emun, so he tried to play it off that it didn’t matter. He mostly crashed on her couch in her quarters, and he had to bullshit his way out of why he’d suddenly wake up thrashing or scrambling for something to hold on to. It was because he felt paralyzed, trying desperately to pull himself from the tomb he felt he was held prisoner in.

            Emun had enough nightmares of her own, he didn’t want to burden her with his. It was just getting harder to talk to her about things. He didn’t want to be the fuck up anymore, but he’d been that for his whole life he didn’t know how to be anything else.

            For a while he was doing pretty good in the Alliance, working really hard to prove himself, and he thought he’d finally have his chance to show what he was worth when he was selected, with Emun, to go into the N7 program. It was a dream come true, until it was all ripped away from them.

            It was devastating. He’d screamed at his father like a bratty little child. He knew why his father did it, but he couldn’t understand why he had to run his mouth about it when he knew AI research was illegal. The Alliance didn’t care that their mum was terminal. Though it didn’t do any good to dwell on it now. That was part of what growing up was for, yeah? Moving on and moving forward. Not looking back. But he still had a hard time not dwelling on that past.

 

\---

 

            Emun wrung her hair out heading back from the shower and found Shannon lying on her couch, forearm over his eyes. She stopped, actually feeling guilty for a change for her outburst at her brother. It wasn’t often that the roles were reversed, hell practically never. Yet, she was upset at his prying, despite knowing he was right. She didn’t really want to admit it.

            “You going to say you’re sorry?” Came his voice and she frowned. She didn’t like being called out for it either.

            “You’re in my room.”

            “I’m always in your room.” He retorted, not budging from his spot, so she tossed her towel onto the bed as she quickly got dressed.

            “I’ve noticed.”

            “We gonna keep fighting about this? It’ll be a long ride to Habitat-8.”

            “No.”

            “Sooo?” She listened to him drawl and she let out a sigh, making her way towards the couch to sit at his feet.

            “I’m sorry for calling you childish.”

            “Thank you. That’s all I wanted. Look, I know you’re hurting, and I’m sorry for prying, but Emun, you’re doing this to yourself, you know that right?”

            She slowly nodded, “I know.”

            “Why?”

            “I don’t know,” She shrugged helplessly, and she really didn’t know. “It was too much I guess.”

            He chuckled sadly as he sat up, leaning on his knees. “When it’s tough you’re supposed to work it out.”

            “No offense, but all you’ve ever done is slept around. So what do you know about relationships, Shan?”

            He scoffed, “I know nothing, obviously. But I know a good one when I see it. At least mum and da loved each other. I guess too much since we don’t know what to do with it,” He chuckled again, which caused her to laugh.

            “I suppose so,” She eased up, leaning back into the couch. “How did we get so messed up?” She let out a groan as she placed her palms over her face, craning her neck back to rest on the back of the couch.

            “You got me. You don’t love, I spread it too much? Getting a little antsy to be honest.”

            Emun snorted, “I’m surprised you’ve been able to keep it in your pants this long.”

            “When you’re tired as fuck all the time, surprisingly it’s not a priority. Plus it’s less of a hassle when…” She watched as he picked up his hand and she whacked him with a pillow amidst his laughter.

            “You better not be doing that in my room you dirty little shit.” She glared at him.

            “What like you Reyes haven’t…” He stopped, grimacing at bringing it up. “I’m sorry.”

            “It’s fine, Shan…” She shrugged it off. It stung to think about, but she had no one to blame but herself. “And yes, right where you’re sitting to be honest.”

            “Fuuuuuck.” He rolled off the couch, plopping down to the floor.

            “It’s my room.” She said evenly, and chuckled a little as he rolled one more time to get further from the couch. “Stop being dramatic.”

            “I’m not. I can’t believe my sister’s been laid more in Andromeda than I have.”

            “Speaking of… You and Loma?”

            “Nothing going on, but maybe.”

            “She looks like Shepard.” Emun said, and mulled it over at the possibility. The woman had no family _she_ knew of, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have relatives out there, and with the amount of people recruited into Andromeda, it seemed plausible. “She has her smile.”

            “Nah, I don’t think so.” He sat up, leaning back against the couch next to her legs.

            “You still fancy her.”

            “I just really want to get laid, Emun.”

            “This is weird to talk about.” She finally said.

            “We talk about everything.” He countered.

            She raised a brow, “Not about this. I don’t need to know about your sexual conquests.”

            “I didn’t sleep around _that_ much, Em.”

            “That’s a lie.”

            “Fine it is.”

            “She’s a crewmember, Shannon. Just remember that you’ll have to see her every day during a mission that could turn very, very long.” She tried to warn him. “It always gets messy.”

            He shrugged this time. “If both parties know what the rules are I see no harm.”

            “How are we related?” She patted him on the head.

            “I don’t know. Twins at that. I think you’re the weird one.”

            She let out a sigh. “Yeah… I know.”

 

\----

 

            They were nearing the system that was home to Habitat-8, extremely far on the outskirts of the galaxy. True to form when they made it there the planet really was surrounded by scourge seemingly littering its atmosphere.

            Shannon was standing up on the bridge behind Emun as they looked out upon the new planet. This wasn’t as exciting close up and here. How the hell were they supposed to navigate through that?

            “Hm, this seems… Problematic.” Kallo muttered as they drifted a good distance from it.

            “The scourge is… It’s worse here than what we went through with Aya. And Meridian.” Suvi marveled. “Are we really to believe this planet could be stable?”

            “Are we _actually_ going down there?” Shannon turned around when Liam came up behind them. “Emmy, you remember what happened when we checked out Habitat-7? Nothing good!”

            He watched her begin to nod slowly. “So, Pathfinder, what are we going to do?” Shannon asked, placing his fist to the back of her shoulder to nudge her slightly.

            Emun turned to look at her pilot. “Kallo?”

            “I’m confident that I can maneuver us through. I was able to do so for Meridian, I believe I could do it again. But… What’s waiting for us on the other side? That’s the real question.”

            “SAM, is it possible for us to manually pilot a probe through the scourge and to see what lies beyond?” Emun asked.

            _“No. The probes are not designed for manual piloting. However, there’s a possibility of it making through on its own as it anticipates collision with foreign objects.”_

            “Let’s see if we can get a probe through.” Emun suggested. “Gil?” She called him over the comms. “Ready some probes. We’re going to try and send some through the scourge.”

            _“Roger that.”_ He answered back.

            “SAM, can you get me any scans? And find me a spot that might be less trouble for the probes.”

            _“I’ll see what I can do, Pathfinder.”_

            “Is it just me… Or does SAM not seem like himself?” Suvi wondered aloud.

            “I think Emun yelled at him.” Shannon said, and the group snorted with laughter. She narrowed her eyes at all of them.

            “I didn’t yell at SAM.” She crossed her arms.

            It took a little bit, but everyone had ventured to the bridge as they began to launch the probes. Shannon could see Emun’s calm and Liam was pacing. He’d heard in great detail about the mission to Habitat-7, and he knew it wasn’t going to be easy when they ended up sending a team to actually go down there. He wondered if they were going to navigate through the scourge and then try sending in shuttles, or if they’d blaze in on the Tempest and make a landing.

            Either way, Emun was doing a great job of hiding what she felt regarding this. “So, what’re you thinking?” He asked her.

            “If this doesn’t work, we’re moving forward.”

            “Through that?” Shannon raised his brows.

            “Yes.”

            “Are you daft?”

            “We don’t, and Tann finds a new human Pathfinder who will.” She said evenly.

            “Wait what?”

            She shrugged, “That’s what he told me. That I’m out here to be Pathfinder, not to play it safe.”

            Shannon ran his hand through his hair. “So play it stupid, yeah?”

            “Yeah.” She agreed.

            “Uh, did I hear you right?” Liam asked.

            “Unfortunately yes. We’re going down there no matter what.”

            “Shit, you guys don’t play around do you?” Loma chuckled and Liam glanced at her.

            “I’d rather not. We tried that on Habitat-7. Shuttles ripped from the sky, because we ended up in a shitstorm of lightning and an unstable planet. It wasn’t pretty. Do we have any other precautionary plans, Emmy?”

            Emun nodded, “Make it through the scourge then take a moment to assess the atmosphere. That’s all we can do.”

            “I just really hope that you all are careful down there. Especially you two.” Lexi pointed at both him and his sister.

            “Aw, what? I’m careful.” Shannon protested.

            “You’re worse than her.” Lexi accused. “Which is strange that she’s so reckless because she’s the calm twin.”

            “Hey!”

            Before anyone could offer up anything else SAM’s voice rang out over their comm system. _“A probe made it through. The planet is showing a stable atmosphere much like that on Earth. Oxygen is at normal levels. However I am detecting that there are faint life scans not far from where the probe landed.”_

            Shannon glanced around, everyone was quiet as they looked towards Emun. “Are you ready for this, Kallo?”

            “Yes,” He confirmed. “Hold tight.”

            Everyone found a spot, but Drack stepped forward. “You sure you’re ready for this, kid? We don’t know what we’ll find down there.”

            “No, but that’s the whole point of this right?” She responded, and Drack chuckled.

            “Got me there.”

            “If everyone could be silent…” Kallo said, and they all quieted down. Shannon got to watch first hand as the Salarian began to expertly maneuver his way through the scourge. He was good at this, a little bumpy here and there, but for the most part the ride wasn’t as nerve-wracking as he’d thought it’d be.

            Then the part he’d been waiting for as they’d made it through the scourge and the planet became better visible. He could see land masses amongst oceans. He was in awe, sure he’d been to the other planets, and he’d been on Meridian, but it never got old. This was why they came out here, to find new places, and he was excited he was able to be involved in a whole new world. He just hoped it would turn out better than Emun’s first outing to Habitat-7.

            “Well, guys,” She turned to look at them from her post. “Are you ready?”

            “I am.” Loma said and Shannon scanned everyone’s faces, and they all agreed one by one that they were ready for this.

            Kallo began to ease down towards the atmosphere and Shannon couldn’t help but notice a slight shimmer that stretched like a net. Was he the only one who saw that? He wasn’t sure, no one else had said anything, so he didn’t think too much of it. Until they’d passed the barrier and a pulse seemed to emanate throughout the ship. It heaved, which sent him back on his ass, along with Liam, and mostly everyone else managed to stumble into things and hold on before they went down.

            “Kallo?” Emun called out.

            “Something happened. We went through a forcefield of some kind. Gil, are you getting this?”

            _“Working on it, powers weakening, we need to land fast, she needs to touch down.”_ His voice rang through the comms and Kallo began do his best to gain control as he flew down to an endless arid looking region on one of the huge land masses.

            Liam began to groan, “Not again.” He held onto Suvi’s chair and Shannon scrambled to stand and hold onto the rail by Emun.

            “You good?” He could see her gripping the bar tightly, knuckles turning white.

            “I would rather be in my suit right about now, but I’m fine.” She grit her teeth, staring out at the way the land below them was getting closer.

            “We’re fine, they got this.”

            “Hold on everyone.” Kallo lurched the Tempest up, trying to level it out as they got closer. “Gil, now.”

            _“Got it.”_ The Tempest began to slow in jerky motions, until they could hear the creaking of the landing gears followed by a hard thud as they made their landing in the dirt.

            “The wind is blowing considerably.” Kallo commented, taking a breath. “We made it.”

            “Nice flying, Kallo.” Emun finally told him, and Shannon was glad they were on solid ground.

            “Thank you.” Kallo said and Liam hopped over towards his chair.

            He gave him a good tap to the shoulder. “You never cease to amaze me you crazy bastard!” He chuckled, and began his way off the bridge.

            Emun left as well and he followed after her. “So this is it?”

            “This is it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh I'm nervous for this chapter! I hope you guys liked the little twist I used x3

            They went to the cargo hold, beginning to suit up. Shannon looked around at the ground crew they had. Everyone was with them minus Cora and Peebee. Cora had been working with an Asari Commando team and didn’t think it was a good time to leave, and Peebee had been engrossed in her remnant studies.

            Drack, Vetra, Jaal, Liam, Loma, and himself were standing around. Wes, Loma’s science officer, wasn’t going to do any initial exploring with the team just yet. He was going to hang back until they actually did some groundwork first. The guy was quiet so far, probably in his early thirties, but he seemed a good sort. He wasn’t that social, which didn’t do much good when there were social people around. He figured he’d get comfortable eventually, that’s what Loma had told him anyway. For now he seemed content with quiet chats with Lexi or Suvi.

            “I’m thinking a small team.” Emun told them. “Myself, Shannon, and two more. Who wants to go?”

            Shannon could see Loma slowly raising her hand. “I’d like to. If that’s okay with you guys. I know you all are close and went through a lot together, and I don’t want to step on any toes, so if you say no that’s fine, but I’d really like to head out there!”

            “Who else?” Emun asked.

            “Rock, paper, scissors?” Liam raised his hands up and Vetra began to chuckle.

            “I prefer knife, gun, Kevlar.” She said.

            “What is this? Rock, paper, scissors? And the other?” Jaal asked.

            “Weird human thing, Jaal,” Drack said.

            After explaining the game, Jaal ended up winning which was followed by a lot of raucous laughter and jeering especially from Liam. They all geared up regardless, just in case they needed backup. They’d be waiting outside the Tempest and watching out for anything that might be curious.

            “We follow first contact protocol if we happen onto anything.” Emun told them.

            “Here’s hoping that goes better than the last time too.” Liam said.

            “They can’t all be like the Kett.” Loma stated. “The Angara certainly weren’t.”

            “Well put, Loma,” Jaal complimented her. “I thought Emun’s arrival on Aya went surprisingly well.”

            “Yeah,” Emun spoke. “I’d rather not have to shoot any new species. Or run into anything similar to the Kett.”

            “What if it _is_ Kett here?” Shannon asked and they all stared at him. “None of you thought of that? That this could be the Kett home world or something?” He was certainly thinking it.

            “The Angara have tried to follow them. They never came near this system.” Jaal told them.

            “That’s reassuring, but Shannon actually does have a point.” Loma agreed and Shannon raised a brow at her. “What?” She laughed.

            “I wasn’t expecting you to agree with me.” He said simply and she shrugged.

            “If we see Kett shoot. That simple.” Emun put it bluntly. “Are we ready to head out?”

            “We walking?” Shannon asked.

            “For now, yes. I thought it’d be better if we go on foot for a little bit.”

            “She just doesn’t want to drive,” Liam called over.

            “Nobody else does it.” She shot back and their companions chuckled.

            They finished putting on their gear, helmets on, and the ramp opened up for Emun, Jaal, Loma, and himself to make their way down into the blustery winds. It was dusty, a little dark considering the scourge seemed to block part of the sun’s rays. However it was lowering into the horizon from what he could tell, so maybe it was simply that dusk was upon them. He could still see the slight shimmer high above every once in a while.

            “Anyone have any ideas about what that barrier was?” Shannon asked.

            “SAM?”

            _“It appears to keep the effects of the scourge at bay. There is a tower not far from here that emanates the energy required to put up such a barrier. They are connected to several other towers, it seems. However, there are faint life signs in that general direction.”_ SAM responded.

            “I think it’s best we stay away from that.” Emun said, and they moved forward. Shannon could only describe this place as something similar to a desert, yet it wasn’t hot. The temperatures were mild, and it was just dry and very breezy. Sand and dust collected in spots, sending up little dust devils here and there.

            Rocks were nearby to their right, building up and up the further it went back. Looking in any other direction brought flat lands for miles to their vision. “This is incredible. Where do we even go from here?” Loma asked.

            “Your guess is as good as mine. I haven’t experienced a new world.”

            Emun moved forward and they fanned out to her sides following in her lead. “Every new place we’ve been to minus Meridian has at least had someone on it before we got there. Eos had the outposts along with the Kett. Voeld and Havarl had the Angara. Kadara the same with our exiles, and Elaaden already had the Krogan on it.”

            “This is certainly new for us as well.” Jaal mentioned. “I believe I may have heard of this place, perhaps not specifically this planet, but I didn’t believe it actually existed. Let alone was so… Viable. It probably does not even need a vault.”

            _“This planet was not connected to the Vault network.”_ SAM offered. _“Scans indicate that this planet needed no terraforming. It is possible intelligent life resides here.”_

            “Hopefully intelligent means friendly.” Shannon said. He didn’t really want to meet any more bad guys. The Kett were more than enough for him and what he had to go through with that. “You think those Jardaan people might be here?” He caught sight of Jaal and he immediately said his apologies.

            “No, no. It is alright, Shannon. It’s still a shock, but… The Angara would not be here without them. The future is more exciting because of that discovery.”

            “Hey… Do you guys see something?” Loma asked and Shannon glanced her way. She was looking to the northwest of their group. He looked in that direction and saw the wind whipping up sand, but not much else, until something seemed to shimmer in the distance. Like figures walking their way. “Mirage?” She finally said uneasily.

            Shannon was about to head towards the rocks when he saw Emun doing just that. She began to climb them partway up until she found her footing, taking out her black widow to peer through the scope.

            “There’s nothing—” She stopped speaking.

            “What is it?”

            “There was something then it was gone. Figures wrapped in cloaks.” She responded.

            “Like us?” A light, airy voice came from behind him and Shannon whipped around, pulling his rifle out before it was pulled from his hands and flew beyond his reach. A similar thing happened to Jaal and Loma. Nothing was there and he turned around in time to see a tall figure standing behind Emun, both hands clutching her forearms and holding her still.

            “Interesting gadgets,” its deep voice sounded. It was tall, probably somewhere around 6’6 cloaked in a brown robe, hood shrouding its face. It appeared humanoid, two arms, two legs, body cavity similar to their own build. Just tall and lithe. Where was the other one?

            He looked back and there was someone standing in front of him clothed in a similar garb. He pulled his pistol out, pointing it at it, and listened to its chuckle.

            “You can put that away. Your weapons are archaic.” It flicked its wrist and his pistol was out of his hands, seeming to shatter like glass as it littered the ground. He wanted to call it out for showing off, as it didn’t do that with their other weapons, but he kept his mouth shut and figured it’d be in all of their best interests to not act like a smart ass.

            “Emun?” He called back to her.

            “None of my tech is working.” She answered back.

            “Who are you?” The figure in front of him asked, it sounded feminine to his ears, a little taller than his own 6’3 stature. “That one is Angaran.” She nodded behind him towards Jaal.

            “Are you… Are you the Jardaan?” Jaal sputtered, nervous edge to his voice.

            She chuckled lightly in front of him. “No. They knew well enough to leave us alone. We are Inusannon. You did not know well enough. You are on Ilos.”

            Shannon shook his head in disbelief. He wasn’t that savvy with history, but if he recalled correctly, Ilos was the planet that Commander Shepard had found the conduit on, and that planet was in ruins.

            “Ilos?” He heard Loma from behind him. “That’s… The name of a planet in the Milky Way galaxy.”

            “Someone found that relic?” She said. “Reapers caused my people to flee their galaxy for this one ages ago. We are practical. Ancestors found this planet, called it home. Called it Ilos again.” She stepped closer to him and he stiffened, not knowing how to react to her intrusion. “What do you breath?” She asked.

            “What? Uh, Oxygen.” He responded, seeing her face a little more though still shrouded by her hood. Her skin was a rich bronze brown it seemed, looked similar in texture to theirs, eyes were… Dark. Surrounded by black where white would normally be and light blue irises. She had a pale white or brown for her eyebrows. Her features were sharp, nose seemed flatter. She pulled back her hood, the same pale brown white hair was braided back tight behind her head, long. She placed her hands on either side of his helmet and he was going to move to push her back, but felt his body tense. There was something within those gloves of hers that shut the mobility down in his suit.

            He heard the click as his helmet released. _‘Do not worry, Shannon. Oxygen levels are normal.’_ SAM chimed privately on his comm quickly before the Inusannon before him plucked his helmet from his head and tossed it aside.

            “Curious.” She said, gripping his jaw and examining his face. “You have similar features to us. Much more strange though.” She slid her finger up his nose to in between his brows. “This seems problematic. Nose extends further out. Not much protection for eyes.” He was staring her in the face, her eyes were a little more hooded, wider, yet seemed sharp like most of her features. There were scarred patterns in her skin, markings, deliberate. “What are you?”

            “Human.”

            “Hmm. Human.” She glanced back at Loma then up at Emun, “Your females are small.”

            He could hear Loma from behind him. “Actually we’re taller than the average female for our species.”

            “Pity. You are larger.” She turned her attention back to Shannon.

            He frowned, realizing that the other one probably still had hold of Emun. “If you’re done with the examinations, you can let my sister go.”

            She chuckled. “That one’s dangerous. She’s different than you other two humans. There’s another entity in her body.” She pointed at Emun first then directed her attention to Loma. “That other one’s slightly more dangerous than you. Some other energy flows through her veins. An… Implant is in her head to amplify it.”

            Shannon looked back at Loma and he could see her brows raise. “I’m… Biotic. Not a very good one...”

            “Biotic.” The Inusannon repeated. “You can use energy to your will. Primitive species with upgrades. Seems wasteful.”

            “You’re awfully blunt.” Shannon said.

            “We are not known for our bleeding emotions like those ones.” She motioned to Jaal.

            “I do not understand. How do you know about us? We know nothing of you!” He spoke up.

            “Our people observed you a long time ago without your knowledge. Our technology is far superior.” She responded.

            Shannon looked around. “There’s nothing out here.”

            “That you know of.” She smiled, teeth white just like theirs. “Are you here to play nice? You brought weapons.”

            “They didn’t do us any good.” Emun retorted.

            “Let her go.” She told the other one, and he finally felt the tension ease in his body as well as his suit. “They’re no threat. Are you?”

            “No,” Emun said calmly, he could hear that old stoic tone had returned to her voice now. “How can we understand you?”

            “We have better technology.” The Inusannon responded simply in nearly the same tune. “Better tools. I suppose your other being is gathering information. I sense it scanning, learning.”

            “We’re explorers.” Emun finally said as she came to stand next to Shannon and the other Inusannon stood next to his partner. He could see a similar skin tone, sharp features, wider set jaw. Same eyes, and similar scarred markings. His hair was also the same color underneath his hood. He was quiet though. “We’re not here to fight, or cause trouble.”

            “Being here means you are trouble. Interacting with other races tends to lead to destruction, human, do you not know that?”

            “We know it all too well, unfortunately.” Loma said, “We try to avoid our past mistakes.”

            “Hmph.” She looked over their group. “As did we, yet… We are all creatures of habit. And you will be in danger soon if you do not leave.”

            “Why is that?” Emun asked.

            “The Inusannon are a very controlling people. Some value the old tyrannical ways. Follow the rules and know your place and you are fine.”

            “And you?”

            “Everyone needs order. But their order came without freedom to choose your life. That was the price we were willing to pay to leave long ago. There’s no doubt that if we saw your descent to our planet, that they saw it too. And are on their way to imprison you for finding us.”

            “They would do that?” Jaal asked.

            She nodded. “Yes, they will. They will risk coming into our territory to take your ship,” She nodded back towards the Tempest.

            “You’re trying to scare them.” The other Inusannon spoke.

            “You don’t think they will try?”

            “Perhaps. But they’ll risk reigniting the war if they come here.”

            “We risk war if we keep them.” She argued back.

            “No one needs to keep anyone.” Emun said. “We’re not here to cause trouble, we only wanted to explore.”

            “Explore to take.” She smirked. “We know how this works. Our people did the same thing.”

            “That’s not our intention.” Emun said.

            “You’ll want to build here, you’ll want to take. You don’t have to lie.”

            Shannon watched his sister straighten beside him. “I’m not intending to take anything. If we could set up prosperous relationships and trade that’s what we’re looking for. If you don’t want us here, we’re gone. I’ll leave and tell my people that this world is off limits.”

            “What’s to stop more of you from coming?” She asked.

            “The scourge.” Emun pointed up.

            “Yes, you managed to get through it. How?”

            “My pilot is skilled.” Emun told them.

            She glanced to her companion. “I am Irha. This is my brother Garoh. Your ship suffered the forcefield?” Irha asked.

            Emun nodded, and Shannon could see Irha smirking. “We could help you fix it. Maybe. I’m sure it’s not as good as our ships.”

            “Do you have ships that are space worthy?” Emun asked.

            “We do. Though we do not need them when we keep to ourselves mostly.”

            “I’ll look.” Garoh nodded down at them.

            “He’s good with fixing things.” Irha patted him on his back. Shannon could see him staring down at Emun and he raised a brow. They were both pretty fixated on her. It was probably mostly due to SAM. They were curious that was for sure.

            “Why are there only two of you out here?” Loma asked from behind them.

            “You’re lucky it was us, not the patrol.” Irha stated simply. “We volunteered.”

            “Curiosity.” Garoh added.

            “We don’t care to repeat past problems. We’ve seen enough war. You can pick up your weapons.”

            Shannon noted that Irha was quite arrogant, but he couldn’t really fault her. Being a highly advanced species, it wasn’t surprising that she’d be intimidating them regarding it. She was asserting their dominance, and by their good graces ‘helping’ them. It was a ploy really. He glanced at Emun and he already knew she was thinking the same thing. They wanted to see the ship and see what technology they had.

            They walked in front of them, backs to them, not worried in the slightest about any moves they might be plotting. Maybe they sensed that Emun was being genuine when she said they were only here to explore. It was the truth after all. It was crazy to him that he was watching a race of people that was over a hundred thousand years old. Not to mention that they shared so many similarities.

             According to the reports on Ilos after Shepard’s arrival, the Protheans came to an already ruined society, aliens that had been there had long since been gone. They said they left because of the Reapers. And in their father’s last memory trigger was a communication from one of Shepard’s crew mate’s father who spoke about the Reaper invasion.

            “So your people left because of the reapers?” Loma asked and Irha glanced back to them.

            “Those savages were wiping our people out. Before it was too late we managed to send several ships full of people beyond the galaxies to a viable planet out here. Is that what your people did?”

            “No,” Emun responded. “They didn’t believe one of our own’s warnings. We don’t know if they were wiped out. We left before the main invasion.”

            “Lucky and primitive,” Irha chuckled. “It’s a wonder they made it here.”

            “Be nice.” Garoh told his sister.

            Once back to the Tempest they could see Drack, Vetra, and Liam with their guns trained on them. “Your comms went dead, what—” Liam started, but stopped when he saw the two imposing figures with them. “You uh… brought back friends?”

            “Another human. And other strange aliens.” Irha commented. “They look stronger than you.” She directed her insult back to them.

            “I’m getting a sense of a superiority complex here.” Shannon smarted off and saw Emun give him a look. “What? They’re assholes.”

            He could see Irha smirking as she wandered onto the ship and Drack moved in front of her. “Hey, kid, what’s going on.”

            “It’s fine.” Emun told them.

            Irha stared at Drack, not intimidated by the Krogan in front of her. “He’s old. But stronger than all of you.”

            “You’re damn right I’m stronger than all of _you_.” He said and didn’t move when Garoh stood before him. Vetra moved over as well and Emun got in the middle of them. Shannon thought it was funny, Emun was pretty tall herself, but seeing her amongst those four made her look smaller than she really was.

            “Cool it.” She told Drack and Vetra. “They’re here to help with the ship.” She told them calmly.

            “Yes, listen to your leader.” Irha said, moving past them into the cargo hold, beginning to look around. “Not bad. Not good either.”

            “Stop trying to make them angry.” Garoh told her, and she patted him on the shoulder as he walked past her.

            “My brother thinks I’m rude.” She turned to them.

            “Arrogant.” He said. “Where’s your core?” He asked Emun, and Shannon watched as she went over to the lift.

            “This way.” She was about to go up there with just him, but Shannon wandered forward, getting onto the lift with them. Irha stayed down below to check out the Nomad while the others watched her carefully. Shannon caught eyes with Loma and she raised her brows and made a face in the Inusannon’s direction, and he chuckled to himself, watching her grimace then laugh herself. He turned his attention back to his serious companions and Garoh and Emun seemed to be studying each other in silence.

            “This is getting awkward.” Shannon said as he stepped off the lift and Garoh followed them into the drive core.

            “I’m working on it, Kallo!” They heard Gil’s voice, “It’s not going to get fixed any faster with you down here buggering me!”

            “It’s not Kallo.” Emun spoke up and Gil turned from the spot he was working on. He was about to say something crass, but his eyes began to widen.

            “What the hell is that?” He asked.

            “He’s here to help.” Emun told him.

            “Who said you could bring an alien onto our ship?” He asked incredulously. “Shit, another giant alien.” He continued to mutter as Garoh looked around.

            “Impressive.” He stated.

            “You must be the nice one in the family.” Shannon joked and he saw the slight ease of Garoh’s icy hues slide his way.

            “I am.”

            Emun sent a glare his way and he couldn’t help but shrug. “He gets it.”

            She sighed and turned her attention towards Gil. “This is Garoh. He wants to take a look and see if he can help.”

            “You mean steal our technology.” Gil said.

            “No.”

            The three of them looked at each other. “Well, if his sister were up here, she’d laugh and tell you their technology is far superior to ours. So, there’s your explanation.”

            “Uh… Right. You think you can learn what we’ve got going on in here?”

            “Parts come together. It isn’t hard to see how things work.” Garoh said simply and crouched down at the panel Gil had been at.

            “Well, alright then.” He said, “I’ll just start rattling off what everything does and maybe you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

            “Probably.” Garoh affirmed, and Shannon couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

            “You’d fit right in with them.” He watched his sister’s eyes narrow at him, typical frown settled on her features. “What? Irha said they were unemotional.”

            “Thanks.”

            “Hey, I’m just saying.”

            “You’re being an ass.”

            “Yeah, so are you.”

            She sighed again, apparently something was bothering her again, so he laid off. It took a while, but they heard Gil actually thanking Garoh for speeding up the repairs. Apparently the Inusannon actually was savvy with all kinds of technology, even foreign ones.

            “Although, I don’t think it’s _as_ basic as you said, but whatever. Thanks anyway.” Gil said as Garoh made his way back over to two of them. Shannon could see Gil grimacing slightly, knowing he was uneasy about having an alien they didn’t know anything about tinkering with their system. He gave them the thumbs up, however, and told them everything looked green.

            Garoh stepped in front of Emun, ignoring his own presence as he stared down at her. “You need to leave. Don’t come back.”

            “Why?” She asked.

            “Sis, do we really need to know why?”

            “Your brother’s right. You don’t need to know. The Inusannon on the other side are not as forgiving as mine. You do not need to incite war within our people, nor do you need to involve yourselves in our issues.”

            “We could learn a lot from each other.” Emun pressed.

            “You don’t want to learn from us. Doubtful you have anything we can learn from.” Quiet surrounded them, and he stared at Emun a moment longer. “You should be able to fly through the forcefield now without issue.” He said, stepping away from them and heading out the door. They followed, getting onto the lift with him, but he merely hopped down from the descending platform and made his way towards the ramp. “Let’s go.” He called to Irha and she looked them all over one last time.

            “Goodbye,” She said, moving gracefully behind her brother as they left their ship.

            “They’re not normal, kid.” Drack said.

            “Yeah, I got an uneasy feeling about her.” Vetra said. “There’s an arrogance about them. We probably shouldn’t mess with them. This is their planet after all. We don’t exactly want to anger the locals. She didn’t paint a pretty picture about the ‘Inusannon on the other side.’”

            Emun watched their figures disappear and she began to nod. “You’re right. Let’s leave. We’ll head back to the Nexus and tell them this place is off limits.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So one of the ancient races in Mass Effect are the Inusannon! So I'm taking liberties with their race and making them into my own, and kind of similar to humans! On Ilos they had those weird statues of those humanoid like creatures sitting in those chairs, and they seemed anatomically almost human aside from the tentacles coming from their faces! However, I'm kind of thinking that was some weird mask xD *Because I'm not very creative ^^;; and I thought maybe somewhere out there'd be aliens somewhat similar to our biology, possibly, if the conditions were very earth like? *Shrugs* this is my story anyway ;)* So, hope you guys like my take on them so far :D  
> Irha: Pronounced like ear-hah  
> Garoh: Pronounced like Gair, like pair or air, then oh.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to post this the other day, but some things came up and I had a pretty awful day on Thursday(yesterday). And admittedly I was afraid of the reaction to a certain thing that is revealed in this chapter xD Anywho, here it is! The next chapter shouldn't be much longer. Chapter four was originally twelve pages long so I split them up! xD

            They’d made it back to the Nexus and Emun looked around; more people were out and about, various species interacting on friendly terms. Everyone was still in good spirits since Meridian, and Emun was grateful for it, as it meant that there was some semblance of unity for the time being. With the Kett a common enemy, all were coming together, fortifying the outposts and trading heavily with the Angara.

            She was glad their relationship with the Angara was getting stronger. Encountering new species had been fifty-fifty so far, however this new encounter set her ill at ease. The Inusannon. It was crazy to think a race from over a hundred thousand years ago existed. And they were _here_. That they were even still alive and thriving was amazing. What could being around that long possibly do to a people?

            Vetra had told her what Irha had said about the other side of their people. That their government was strictly controlled and regulated. It was a high functioning society, and testing began at young ages to grant people their “calling” in life. Several times over in the course of their history people rebelled only to be shackled back into the same cycle over and over. Until a few thousand years ago a group managed to break off and form their own society in the dusty badlands. How they’d done it was a mystery as Irha didn’t mention that, but Emun figured it involved elaborate schemes. They seemed very smart.

            She’d already seen Tann; he was angry that she’d left and didn’t get anything more than dust and dirt samples that drifted into the Tempest. She hadn’t shared with him the scans that SAM managed to sneak. He was now fascinated with Ilos and what it meant as far as technology. She’d told him she refused to go back, that they risked jeopardizing the safety of their people and war if they caused trouble. Not to mention what that could mean for them. She didn’t want to get involved in another alien conflict, and if the Inusannon wanted to stay hidden on their world then that was their business.

            They seemed to have figured out how to keep the scourge from ripping their planet up, and had no need to interact with them. She knew when to listen to a warning and the way Garoh looked at her, the way he told her… She believed him.

            _‘Ryder, I’m receiving a call from… Mr. Vidal.’_ SAM chimed in her head.

            “No.” She immediately responded, her heart beginning to beat faster. She didn’t want to face that conflict. She felt bad enough for the way she left him, she didn’t need to hear his voice to confirm the hurt she knew she’d caused him.

            _‘Very well…’_ A moment later he added, _‘He left a message saying he only wants to meet to discuss business. Nothing more. He wants you to meet him at the Vortex Lounge. He says he’s there.’_

            She didn’t want to go, but if it really was regarding business she had a feeling she already knew what it was about. She was dreading that conversation as well, because there was no easy way out of that.

            _‘Perhaps you should rethink this situation.’_ She groaned when SAM decided to speak out. He’d tried to understand before, but she didn’t know how to explain it. _‘Emun, you love Mr. Vidal. Why do you insist on keeping yourself apart from him?’_

            “SAM, it’s not that simple,” She said low, stepping onto the tram and finding herself alone.

            _‘If there is a deep affection and love, is it not worth working through the fear?’_

            “It’s better we end it now before it ends later… When it’d be harder on both of us.”

            _‘Are you anticipating an incident that will tear you both apart?’_

            “It’s inevitable… nothing works out the way we want it to.” She said simply, shaking her head at her fatalistic attitude. She didn’t want to be this way, but she couldn’t get rid of this feeling.

            _‘I disagree. Your mother and father loved each other to the end.’_

            “Mum got sick and it tore our father up. So much so that he did things she wouldn’t have been okay with. Such as sticking her in a cryopod and hoping to cure her someday.”

            _‘Fear that something will go wrong shouldn’t keep you away from each other. There’s always a chance, but you were happy with him. Now you are unhappy.’_

            She shrugged, “I can’t explain it SAM… I’ve felt… I don’t know… anxious, and like I can’t breathe when I was around him the last few times… like we’re only fooling ourselves, and playing pretend in this place.”

            _‘Perhaps you should’ve asked for time for yourself instead of running the risk of either of you hurting each other more than you need to.’_

            She shook her head, “I hurt him… if he does the same I deserve it… It was stupid, but I didn’t know what else to do… And I’m embarrassed and afraid of what he might say now. I’ve never felt that either. I don’t regret the things I do. Andromeda has been a mess…”

            _‘Mr. Vidal feels very strongly for you, Emun. It would be wise to speak with him regarding all of these issues. There may be a chance for you to reconcile.’_

            “We’re probably better off apart… He deserves someone who can love him better than I can…” She whispered to herself, stepping off the tram and heading down the hall. She was just about to turn a corner when she heard someone calling her.

            “Ryder!” She turned to see Peebee. “Hey! Look, I’ve got to tell you something, and you’re not going to like it.”

            “Yes?”

            “I saw… Okay, I was on Kadara and I was down in Tartarus getting some drinks and… I saw Reyes with someone else. I wasn’t sure it was him, but I followed him up to his VIP room and he… he was cheating on you.”

            Emun swallowed hard, feeling short of breath. She had no one to blame but herself, but it still hurt. “You can’t cheat on someone if you’re not together anymore.” She said, trying to portray that she was calm, despite the regret bubbling up on the inside.

            “Wait, what?!” Peebee asked, eyes widening. “I leave for a few weeks and—what happened?!”

            “I ended it. I walked away.”

            “No wonder he looked shitfaced…” Peebee grimaced. “Shit, are you okay? Why? I thought you were in love with the guy!”

            “Peebee, I don’t know, I fucking don’t know what’s wrong with me!” She raised her voice slightly and placed her hand to her forehead.

            “I…” Peebee was at a loss for words and Emun began her way to the club; why she didn’t know. She assumed to cause her more heartache over this or rather confirm it; to see him with her own eyes to gauge if he really had done it or not. She already knew the answer. Of course he had, and if she was angry like he was she’d have been just as vindictive. She shouldn’t be upset, she did this to herself, but she felt a slight shake to her fingers.

            _‘I believe we should delay this meeting,’_ SAM tried to say, but Emun only continued to ignore him. She felt the pulsing of the music as she stepped inside, flashing lights and all the glitz and glamour the Nexus had to offer. He’d be in a booth out of the way, not wanting to draw attention to himself. She finally spotted him, he was fiddling with his omni tool and taking a shot. A waiter came by offering him another and he took it, swirling the amber liquid in the shooter.

            He looked up and their eyes caught. He knew, and she knew, and his head dipped down low as she clenched her jaw, heading over to his booth. She grabbed his shooter, downing it.

            “Emun, let me explain—”

            “What did you want to talk about?” She interrupted, sitting on the opposite side of him.

            He shook his head, “Just like that? You don’t even want to talk about it? Do you even care?”

            “I don’t want to talk about it.” She bit her lower lip, watching the anger swirl in his eyes. He placed his hand to his forehead.

            “Fine. There’s rumors swirling that the Angara want Kadara Port back.”

            “It was theirs once.” She answered.

            The furrow in his brows deepened, “So what are you going to do?”

            “It’s not my decision.” She answered.

            “But you have sway and influence.”

            “Reyes, I can’t… It was theirs!”

            “I know that! Isn’t there some sort of compromise? Something? Will you not even try for me?”

            “Please don’t ask me that.” She shook her head. “I can’t do this.” She went to get up, trying to leave before he could follow, but she felt his hand on her arm as he turned her to face him.

            “Tell me what’s wrong.” He demanded. “Why?”

            “I don’t know.” She placed her hand to his cheek, easing in to place her lips to his. She kissed him, feeling both their hurt, wanting to be able to fix this and not knowing how, but all she knew was that she wanted to feel his lips on hers one more time. “I’m sorry.” She apologized, wrenching out of his grip as she left him behind.

            She wanted to be with him, she didn’t want to be doing this, but she was scared of how much she loved him. She’d never experienced this range of emotions, and so much had happened in Andromeda it had been so overwhelming. She’d never had a mental breakdown before, so she wasn’t sure if this could be that. She also hadn’t had time to really slow down and process what she’d gone through so far. It was too much. Too much emotion. She felt so overwhelmed, and he was making it worse to cope with, though it wasn’t his fault in the slightest.

            She needed time, and she knew she wasn’t doing herself any favors by not talking to anyone about this. She felt as though no one really understood.

            _‘Emun, Dr. T’Perro might be a good person to talk with right now. I believe I know what could be wrong. You may be suffering through post-traumatic stress disorder.’_

            “That’s never happened before,” She tried to ignore that that could be the culprit, not wanting to believe it could be happening to her.

            _‘You’ve been through more than enough stress in Andromeda. It is entirely possible that this is what’s wrong. You need to speak with someone. I believe since Dr. T’Perro knows what you’ve gone through she will be able to help. Plus, she is your closest friend aside from Shannon.’_

            She knew SAM was probably right, but a scream immediately jolted her from her own problems. People were rushing away from the docking bay, and she instantly rushed towards it. She only had a pistol, but at least it was something. She hid behind a spot, waiting to see what was going on, alarms rang for a second until they’d abruptly stopped. Security was rushing forward, but then she saw a rifle whip past her, breaking up into dust once it hit the floor. She was on alert in an instant, that was far too familiar to be a coincidence, so she retreated further back until she was completely out of sight.

            That’s when she caught sight of three very tall imposing figures, gliding along in a garb very different from Garoh or Irha. The Inusannon were here; and she was willing to guess they weren’t friends to the siblings.

 

\---

 

            “So what did you think of those Inusannon?” Loma asked as she sat with Wes in the tech lab. They were by themselves for the moment so she thought this was a good opportunity to pick her normally quiet colleague’s brain.

            “Arrogant. Dr. T’Perro and I were watching from the hall.”

            “Yeah, I noticed you guys over there.” She sipped her tea. “It kills me a little that we left, but I understand.”

            “I don’t know if it’s wise to mess with them. But I feel the same… With how advanced they are… With their help we could probably cure every disease that we have.”

            “Yeah, that’s the same train of thought I was taking.” She let out a sigh. She may not have been as smart as her former crew, but she definitely believed in what they were working on. Her mother died from an incurable disease. It was why she eventually up and joined the Alliance when she turned seventeen. She had no one left, and she didn’t want to stay where she was and do nothing. Earth didn’t exactly have its perks anymore. If you wanted to be someone and do something, space was where it was going to be. She’d always wanted an adventure too.

            She figured she probably got way more than she bargained for, but getting the opportunity to come here had been fortuitous even with all the complications. She volunteered to be one of the guardians for the bio research team once Emun had gone and begun blazing her Pathfinder trail. It was exciting, and though she didn’t understand a lot of what they were doing, she was still just as interested and thrilled when they found new things to sample and bring back for research.

            She usually tagged along with Wes, he didn’t mind when she watched him analyzing data and she’d always go fetch anything that he might’ve needed, snacks, coffee, samples from the other labs. If he needed it she’d get it, then she’d quietly observe and read about his findings. It was fascinating, and she learned more the more they gathered.

            Then she happened to be on the Hyperion gathering samples in the cryo lab when it was hijacked by the Kett. She quickly jumped into action, helping to take down the threat. Once it had landed on Meridian she’d gotten to prove that she was worth a damn by being herded into a shuttle and joining up with Kandros’s squad, and she felt good about being able to help them there. It was a whirlwind, but she’d signed up for the good and the bad, knowing Andromeda wasn’t always going to work out in their favor.

            She felt lucky so far, and then getting to work directly on the Pathfinder’s crew? She was grateful for the opportunity and excited to go to new worlds first to check them out. However this go around things didn’t go exactly how she’d pictured it. The Inusannon were definitely intimidating, and she didn’t know if they should mess with a species that was so old and advanced. And from what it sounded like, they weren’t very sympathetic and they were not to be messed with.

            “Hey,” She turned and saw Shannon coming through the door. “Figured you lot would be in here.” He nodded to the both of them and she smiled. Shannon was definitely cute, and she already had a fun time messing with him. Admittedly she wouldn’t mind messing with him in more ways. She was going a little stir crazy herself with all the work since waking up. She’d been off her game, but she didn’t exactly want to have one night stands when she ran the chance of having to see them on the Nexus on a daily basis.

            Which, all things considered, it was probably stupid to want the same thing with Shannon when they’d be on board the Tempest together, but she couldn’t help herself. He put up a snarky, sarcastic front, but she’d seen the way the Ryder twins interacted already, and thought it was sweet the relationship they had. He may have acted like he had a flippant attitude, but he cared about the people around him.

            “How are things? We didn’t get kicked off the Tempest did we?” She asked, knowing that he probably already knew about what happened during the meeting that Emun had with Tann. He grimaced.

            “I don’t know what’s up honestly. Tann’s stick shoved further up his ass though that’s for sure. He was adamant about wanting to send us back there.”

            “You don’t think that’s a good idea?”

            “No. You saw them, yeah?”

            “Yes, and I agree. I don’t know if I want to risk messing with them. The thoughts of being enslaved by a superior species doesn’t exactly sit well with me.” She said.

            Wes set down his datapad and joined in on their conversation. “We’re probably lucky they’ve kept to themselves.” He said. “Who knows what hornet’s nest we’ve already disturbed.”

            She nodded, seeing Shannon shudder. “Yeah, I was basically manhandled by Irha. It wasn’t fun.”

            Loma laughed, “What you didn’t enjoy your face being fondled by a new and foreign species?”

            He shook his head. “She shut down my suit with whatever was in her gloves. That was a bit terrifying.”

            “She was able to do the same to Jaal and I. It wasn’t fun.”

            “I’m sure you could’ve used your biotics.” He said and she shrugged.

            “Maybe? If things got desperate, but I’m not that skilled in my biotics. I prefer not to use them and I wasn’t keen on breaking first contact protocol just yet.”

            “She’s skilled,” Wes said, distracted once more by his work, but still half listening to them.

            “Thanks, but I’m nothing special,” She laughed.

            “Makes two of us,” Shannon said. “Oh, anyway, Emun thought you might want this.” He handed a datapad to Wes. “SAM managed to get some scans and data collected of the Inusannon and Ilos. She didn’t want to give them to just anyone yet, so she wanted you and Lexi to have them. See if maybe you can get any DNA scans or possibly genetic coding and all that sciency bullshit I don’t understand. She thought it might help your research.”

            Loma watched Wes’s eyes light up and he nodded. “Wow, yes. Thank you! Tell her thank you!”

            “No problem. Hey I was about to head to the mess hall and grab a bite, want to join me?” He asked the both of them and Wes shook his head.

            “Sorry, but no.”

            “Understandable,” he chuckled, “you?”

            “Sure, why not.” She agreed. She followed him out until she got a message on her omni tool and she read it real quick. “Ugh, shit. Tann wants to see me now. That can’t be good.”

            “Need me to tag along?” She watched that smartassed grin spread and she couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m pretty good at distracting people.”

            “You mean pissing them off?”

            Shrugging he nodded as well, “Yeah, that too.”

            “Hey, if you want. He didn’t say it was urgent so we’ll see.” They made it to the tram and boarded. “So… Just out of curiosity. You have a girlfriend?”

            He smirked, “Why, you interested?” He shot back.

            “Not in being your girlfriend.” She put it out there, just like that. His eyes quickly flicked up and down.

            “You’re not worried about being on the same ship and shite going wrong?”

            She shrugged, “If it’s mutually casual, I don’t see any harm. Nothing wrong with a little fun here and there.”

            “Yeah,” he agreed, “So what’re you saying?” He was being cheeky and she backed out of the tram once it arrived.

            “You that slow, Ryder?” She grinned playfully. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

            “Hah,” He followed after her and she turned around so they could continue their walk towards Tann’s office. “No. I’m not that dense.”

            “Good,” She turned again and was about to say something more when the alarms went off for a moment, but abruptly stopped. Both of them immediately flew back down the steps and found Kandros barking orders. “What’s going on?” She asked when they got there.

            “There’s people here. Aliens. They just basically appeared in the docking bay and now they’re just wandering through the damn Nexus like they own the place!” He said, pointing to a monitor. She stilled, seeing Shannon do the same.

            “That’s the Inusannon.” Shannon told him. “What the hell are they doing here?”

            “The Inu—who??” Kandros asked.

            “I guess Tann didn’t brief you on our mission?” Shannon said.

            “No. Is that what this is? Who the hell did you bring home, Shannon?”

            She watched Shannon, noticing he was showing signs of worry, probably just as she was. “We didn’t bring anyone home, sir. But those three, they are not the ones we met when we touched down.”

            Loma pointed at the monitor. “They’re way more formally dressed than the siblings.”

            “Yeah, you’re right.” He agreed.

            “What if they’re the ones they warned us about?” She asked, and saw Shannon’s attention turn towards the tram and so did hers. There they were, arrogant and graceful air about them as they made their way up the stairs. They were heading towards Tann’s office.

            Shannon immediately took off up the opposite stairway and watched them, Loma right behind him. He had no idea what they were here for but it definitely couldn’t be good. Tann was at the door, and the Inusannon halted.

            “Where is the crew that touched down on our planet?” The one in the middle stepped forward. He could imagine he had the same sort of eyes that Garoh and Irha had, but his skin tone was midnight black with long white hair braided down his back. Their garb was more ornate, fancy, they held status. Which was probably a bad thing. He figured if they belonged to where Irha and Garoh came from then they’d have similar desert looking garb. His companions on either side of him were a bit shorter than their leader in the middle, but they were of a lighter complexion. More silver, one with red markings adorning their skin and the other with gold. Tattoos seemed to be a prominent thing with these guys, but the one in the middle was devoid of the markings.

            “Ah, you must be the Inusannon, I am the leader of the Nexus Jarun—”

            “We don’t care who you are.” The leader bit back and Tann immediately shut up and Shannon could see the nervous swallow he took. “They are to be tried for trespassing on our planet.”

            “Shit,” Loma breathed beside him. “This isn’t good.”

            Shannon turned to look behind him and was right about his feeling when he saw Emun appear at the corner. “What’re they doing?” She asked. “I watched them come in.”

            “They want our crew.” Shannon told her. “They want to try us for trespassing.”

            Emun stood beside him, and he put his hand on her shoulder before she could step further forward. “I think we should wait for any heroics.”

            “What are we going to do otherwise?” She asked. He had no idea honestly, but he didn’t want to be taken back there and tried for anything.

            “I don’t know, but we didn’t do anything. We harmed nothing.” He continued to whisper to her, but Tann’s eyes had slid their way and the leader turned to look at them.

            “They are them.” He stated and they looked at each other a moment.

            “How’d he know…” Loma said quietly and the leader merely smirked and pointed to his pointed ears. Shannon could see their attention centering on Emun, and he had a bad feeling he knew why. His suspicions were confirmed.

            “That is the leader.” He stated, nodding towards Emun. She stepped forward and Shannon made to grab for her until she pushed him back and gave him a stern look. He grit his teeth and hung back.

            “I’m the human Pathfinder for the Tempest, yes.” She told them.

            He was silent as he looked her over. “Human. Strange.” He turned his attention back to Tann. “   We can come to a compromise. We want your… Pathfinder, as you call her. She will suffice.” Shannon nearly launched forward but held himself back when she gave him a look.

            _‘Shannon, please calm down.’_ SAM communicated privately to him. He grit his teeth, but listened.

            “If you let us have that one to try for her crimes, we will leave the others, and your station alone.” The Inusannon leader said calmly, yet Shannon knew that was more than likely a lie. What was to stop them from coming back? Or destroying the Nexus with their fancy tools on the way out?

            _‘I believe he is speaking truthfully.’_ SAM told him.

            “No harm will come to the Nexus? Or our settlements?” Emun asked and a small smile spread to the Inusannon leader’s lips. He didn’t trust that smile.

            “Of course.”

            “Take me then. Leave the rest.” She bargained and Shannon was about to fly forward when he felt Loma tug his arm.

            “Wait!” She hissed, and he tensed but held back. “They could kill you right here and now, Shan!”

            Emun looked at him moving her hand up to her forehead. It was slow, but he noticed it, she tapped her temple before running her hand through her hair. SAM, she was signaling to him that she’d still have SAM. He eased only slightly, thoughts swirling about what would happen to her if they shut SAM off somehow. He was worried SAM was still the only thing keeping her alive.

            He took a step forward subconsciously and Loma was in front of him, hands on his chest.

            “Don’t.” She warned. “She knows what she’s doing.”

            He let out a frustrated sigh, but backed up. “I know… Damn it, I know.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh sorry guys, this has been nearly complete since the last chap ^^;; Apologies, hope you all like :D

            She was on board a small ship locked into a small room. Really all that was in there was an excessively large pod that fit an Inusannon. She sat in the corner however, not wanting to get in one of those things, and had already tried several times to hack the door herself and have SAM try to hack it for her.

            They seemed keen to her tricks already. They probably were way too smart for their own good, and she found herself hugging her knees to her chest. She felt lost, and she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to get herself out of this one. She didn’t know what the Inusannon leader meant by trying her for her crimes, and she really didn’t want to find out. If they were the assholes of the planet, it didn’t sound like it meant good things. Plus their fascination with her having an AI inside of her was a little too strange in of itself. What did they want with her for that?

            She would’ve thought an intelligent and very advanced species such as the Inusannon would have either no need for AI technology or already have it themselves. Or maybe it was simply that they wanted to study her, and since she was the leader of the mission it was coincidence it was her.

            She started to fiddle with her omni tool, surprised when she saw it was still functioning. She quickly made a message for her crew mates. She simply told them that she was proud to have served on their crew, but that they shouldn’t try and come after her. Whatever happened was what was going to happen. She wasn’t worth risking the safety of the rest of their people. She didn’t want any harm to come to everyone in Andromeda on her behalf because the Inusannon seemed like the type to hold a grudge. She finished by telling them she wasn’t sure what they were going to do, she was still alive, but that she also loved them.

            Shannon’s proved to be a bit more emotional. _I know you. I know you’re going to want to come after me, but don’t. I’m not worth risking your safety and everyone else in Andromeda. I’m sorry that I haven’t been… me lately. Or I’ve been too much me to handle. For a while I was lost without you in Andromeda. I didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t have you. It was hard. Harder than when we first joined the Alliance and they separated us. I know it’ll hurt for a while, because it hurt not having you, but you have to move on without me. It was going to happen eventually, yeah? I love you… Take care of mum. Tell her I’m sorry when she wakes up._

            She wiped the tear that fell with shaking fingers, blowing out a breath as she dove back in for one more message. _Reyes, I’m sorry. I didn’t talk to you about what was going on. I went about this the wrong way and I broke us. I’m sorry for… not trusting you with what I’m going through. I just couldn’t handle everything that I was feeling, and I took it out on you in the worst way. You have every right to be angry with me. I did love you though. I promise you I did._

            She took in a breath as she sent all three of them, letting her head rest on the wall behind her. A little bit later the door opened and one of the Inusannon was there. He had a different complexion compared to the leader’s pitch black skin tone. His was a silvered grey, with red tattoos adorning his neck and the uncovered parts of his arms.

            “Finished sending your goodbye letters?” He asked with a smile. “They were very touching.” She didn’t say anything, just stared up at him. “Curious. Are all you humans this similar to us?” She shrugged. “Say nothing then. It matters not. Here is some food. We’ve done scans and determined our biology is quite similar. Our food shall not harm you.” He set a tray down on top of the smooth flat surface of the pod and she stared up at it.

            She turned her scanner on to scan it and SAM gave her the run down that it was actually okay for her to eat. She didn’t touch it, however, as she had a protein bar in the pocket of her jacket that should tide her over on the trip. She was going to be stubborn about this. She dozed a little bit, and startled awake when the door opened once again.

            “We’ve arrived. Let’s go.” He ordered, and for a moment she didn’t move but SAM quietly urged her it was in her best interest to be compliant for now. She finally stood, standing up as straight as possible next to the imposing Inusannon. This one was actually taller than Garoh. Their ship made her feel even smaller, despite it being a smaller vessel every corridor and even furniture was tailored to their height. She followed behind him, once again seeing that they didn’t see her as a threat. She found it rather insulting.

            He led her to the docking bay of the ship and stopped. “Where are we?”

            “Ilos.”

            “Already?” She looked at her watch, it was only that night.

            She saw a smirk spread on his lips. “Our ships are faster than yours.” He said simply, and she rolled her eyes. Of course it was. She felt like she’d be getting that a lot. She saw the other two that had been with him join them in the cargo hold.

            Their leader looked her over then silently nodded to the other two. They went on ahead and she crossed her arms staring up at him.

            “What’re you going to do with me?”

            “That’s for my brother to decide. You will be the first outside species to see our shining city. I don’t know if you deserve the honor.”

            “I’m sure it’ll be impressive.” She dryly stated and he let out a huff.

            “You are interesting human. You have the same mannerisms as some of my people. Curious.”

            She only stared at him, his amber eyes staring back into hers. Eventually he ushered her forward and once out of the bay and through the terminal she was greeted to a bustling city. Many people were out and about in what looked like a market. In the distance she could see buildings. The structures were similar to that of the towering city that she’d seen in photos of the Ilos ruins in the Milky Way. It was more grand here, alive. It really was impressive, but she wasn’t about to give him that satisfaction.

            People had stopped to stare at her, and she felt the same discomfort here as she had felt on Aya. Most of them shared the same similarities of the people she’d seen so far. Same tall, lithe forms, skin tones ranging from the same silvery grey of her one captor to different hues, and so on through the bronze of the siblings and varying shades of the midnight black her current captor bore.

            “Move.” He spoke and she followed after him for a moment until a thought struck her. She didn’t look like a captive. Maybe she could get lost in the crowd. She glanced around, eyes were still on her, yet she felt the pressure rise within her.

            _‘Emun, I would not advise—’_ But it was too late for SAM’s warnings. She bolted, feet flying fast as she thundered down the street. People were shouting, not wanting to touch the alien that was running down their road. She had that in her favor, she was new, possibly contagious of something, yet her run was short lived as she felt a jolt hit her back which sent her sprawling forward onto the stone ground.

            She couldn’t even growl out the pain she felt seizing through her spine as she clenched her fists and jaw. “SAM?!” She called out to him, but he didn’t answer her back. She felt her heart racing until it started to slow down. She saw boots next to her, barely heard what her captor was saying. “I’m dying!” She managed to yell to him.

            “It will not kill you, human. It is meant to stun.”

            “You don’t understand,” She clutched her heart as she rolled over. “My heart…” She wheezed, and finally whatever had hold of her left her and she was lolling in and out of consciousness. “SAM?” She breathed, her companion not having responded yet. Did they shut off SAM? “SAM…” She whispered once more, feeling like she was about to pass out when a jolt suddenly woke her.

            _‘Apologies, Emun. I’m here. I’m here!’_ He sounded panicked, like he was out of breath and she sat up, rubbing at her head.

            “Get up.” Her captor growled at her. “My patience is thinning.” When she didn’t respond to his command he hauled her up, and she could hear gasps sound from other Inusannon who had gathered around. He had touched her; he’d touched the alien. “Run again and you will die.” He pushed her in front of him and she stumbled before finding her footing.

            “Fuck you.” She said and he began to chuckle.

            “I will take that as a derogatory insult. It sounds ugly on your tongue.”

            “I don’t care,” She tried to catch her breath, and he continued to move her forward as they backtracked to where they’d come from.

            “You are bold, human. But you cannot run.” He reminded her, and she clamped her jaw shut as she felt the pain in her back flare up. Damn them and their fancy advanced shit. If she had her gear… Well, no, that had proved useless encountering Garoh and Irha. She had to bear this for now. Maybe they wouldn’t kill her outright.

            He took her to a light rail and they traveled across the city. She had to admit, she couldn’t fathom that she was in the heart of an alien culture from the Milky Way that’s been around for this long. It was incredible, but she wasn’t exactly excited regarding their character for now. She was still a little jittery as she sat in the seat, closely watched by him. She nodded off a moment, then shook herself once he hauled her up from her seat and pulled her along until she yanked her arm from his hold.

            “I can walk,” She said stubbornly, glaring up at him.

            “Very well. Then walk.” He ordered and she followed after him, though she was getting extremely tired of obeying him. She looked around and couldn’t help but notice a lot of similarities to the old ruins of old Ilos in the vids and pictures she’d seen after Shepard went there. It was almost like being there, yet it was new, bustling, and brighter. Which was odd. She looked up, the sky looked blue, devoid of scourge, but abundant in sunlight.

            “Is your sunshine artificial?” She asked and saw a small smile spread on his lips.

            “Yes. We figured out a way around the scourge as you call it. Our shield keeps its effects at bay. The field around our planet does many things.”

            He led her up some steps and she was inside a hall. He led her down the expanse until they’d  made it to a grand room. Once inside there were six Inusannon sitting at a long table with one sitting at the top. He shared the same looks as the one beside her, so she assumed that was the leader of their city.

            “Ah, Osanin, you’ve returned with our guest.”

            Before Osanin could respond Emun did. “I’m a guest now?” Her tone was flat, empty, she didn’t want to let these people get a rise out of her.

            “Apologies, Oeset. This one is bold.”

            “Bold indeed. She is the one who led the ship?” Oeset asked.

            Osanin pushed her forward and she could feel her nostrils flare. She wanted more than anything to just go at him and fight, she was getting to that point, but she resisted the urge. “She is.”

            “The one with the other being inside her. Do all humans have this capability?”

            His brother responded from behind her, “Not that we could tell. We didn’t get any sense from any other human, or those other strange aliens.”

            “Interesting. What makes you so special, human?”

            “Nothing makes me special.” She responded.

            “There were some fascinating things going on in Andromeda. Once your ships showed up, things began to get more lively. It wasn’t just the Angara being ravaged by those Kett.”

            “You watch but don’t interfere? The Angara could’ve used your help.”

            “We observe. Nothing more. We have enough conflict within our world. Why should we meddle in others problems? Yet, you’ve meddled in ours by coming here. Why did you come here?”

            “We’re explorers.”

            “Conquerors.”

            “No. That’s not our intention. We had scans that showed your planet was viable for life. So my team was sent to see what we could find. Knowing it was occupied we left. We weren’t going to come back.” She hoped that sounded believable, because Tann was going to send other teams to make contact no matter what she had said.

            “You made it through the filth surrounding our planet.”

            “Yes. My pilot is skilled.”

            “Hm. Who are the Inusannon you made contact with?” He asked.

            “There was no one.”

            He chuckled. “It would be wise not to lie to me. There’s no way you could have repaired your ship so quickly and made it past our force field without the help of one of our people. Lie to me, we’ll shut off your helper again.” She slipped, a confused look filtered onto her face as she glanced to her side where Osanin was now standing. Oeset tapped his temple, wolfish smile never leaving his lips. “We are always communicating, little one.”

            She pursed her lips. “My mechanic is skilled as well. He made the repairs, we saw people in the distance and decided it was best to leave.”

            He shook his head. “We have ways to make you talk. It’ll be easier than we thought knowing what makes you tick. Take her to a cell. For now I am done with this human.”

            She turned on Osanin, daring him to push her again and he smirked down at her, ushering her along. She was led to an elevator which took them down a few levels and led to an isolated area, a long hallway with many doors, where she was shoved into a small room.

            “You might want to reconsider. Our methods of making you talk—”

            “Are more advanced than ours? Yeah, I got the impression that you’re better than us all the first time.”

            “You learn fast. Get comfortable.” He told her and sealed the door shut.

            She stepped forward towards the door, looking for any sort of connected panel and found none and let out a breath as she sat back on the cot. She kicked her boots off and laid back, figuring she might as well get some sleep in. SAM had been quiet, she wasn’t sure if that jolt had messed with him, or if she was slowly losing the connection being this far from his base.

            _‘I’m here. Merely… observing. We should be brief in conversation, however. I’m not sure the extent of the Inusannon’s technology. I do believe there is room for hope.’_

            Hope? Hope for what? There was no way her own people would be able to get her out of here. She hoped her messages had made it and they’d heeded her warning, yet she knew her brother. They were probably on their way as soon as they had left with her. She turned on her side, feeling sleep beginning to take her in the dim space.

            _‘Wake up.’_ SAM spoke to her and she woke with a start.

            “What?” She asked, but got no response. She slipped her boots back on and moved to the door, placing her ear to the cool surface to listen. She couldn’t hear anything, but the door suddenly opened and she felt hands that she couldn’t see placed at her shoulders as she was pushed back towards the wall. Something was placed over her nose and mouth next, a mask of some sort, and then she felt hands at her shoulder and something dig into her flesh, taking root, which caused her to let out a grunt.

            She was pulled along out into the corridor and wondered what the hell was going on, but if she was getting busted out of here then she would follow whatever was taking her. Once up the stairwell, she saw it was night as they made it onto the main floor. There were guards at the door and she made to stop, but was pulled onward. They went right past them, and they didn’t even see them. So she was cloaked like the figure with her. That made sense. They certainly had some interesting gadgets, and her tech geek self was wanting to study all of it.

            They came to a stop at the main doors. Two guards chatting before the door opened and they breezed past the guard changing shift. They were outside, the night was cold, but comfortable, and they made their way out of the city.

            It took a while, but they were on the outskirts in a smaller suburb and then finally out into an area with nothing. Hills rolled, she could see green even through the darkness, and she couldn’t get over how much this planet also reminded her of Earth. A few passes over some hills later and they were stopped once again.

            “We’re here.” The voice was familiar and unmistakable.

            “Garoh?”

            He appeared before her, and he pressed the gadget that was lodged into her shoulder and she assumed he’d turned it off. She took the mask off her face, wondering why she had to put it on to begin with.

            He must’ve seen the confused look on her face as she stared at the contraption. “I gassed the jail. Let’s go.” He said, and she saw a shuttle appear before them. It had probably been cloaked using the same technology. He ushered her on board, and she saw his sister at the pilot’s seat.

            “Hello again.” She waved her fingers, smirk planted on her face. “Couldn’t stay away?”

            “It wasn’t my choice.” Emun said, and sat behind her as the shuttle took off.

            “Well, I hope you are happy.” Irha said. “We’ve risked far too much to get you, but my brother insisted we be the ones to rescue you.”

            She watched Garoh sit in the seat next to his sister, unreadable expression on his face. “Why?” She asked him.

            “They would’ve done unspeakable things to you. I wasn’t going to let that happen. So I volunteered to be the one.”

            She was taken aback by that comment, he seemed genuine in what he was saying. “Why?” She asked again. “What am I to you?”

            “A lost and stupid pet.” Irha said.

            Emun stared at her from behind. “Thanks,” She offered up sarcastically, listening to her chuckle.

            “You do not deserve to be cut open and defiled. That is what they will do. They’ve taken our people and done experiments. They are not who they used to be.”

            “We call them husks.” Irha said. “They are not much more than shrieking bodies that are empty. They release them out here, and you can hear their cries in the badlands.” She said, a bit of sadness actually touching her tone. “Named for what the Reapers turned our people into long ago. It made them angrier that we compared them to those beasts, but that was the point.”

            “We found similar creatures of our own people back when a Reaper first arrived. They called them husks too.” Emun said.

            “We have a lot in common it seems.” Irha stated. Emun looked out the window and watched how quickly the land was going by. Other ships were in the air and the siblings explained that they were patrolling. They were cloaked again it seemed, and she asked them how they were able to fool them so easily.

            “There are many smart people working harder and faster to make new technology.” Garoh told her. “We know what they have. We work to make it better.”

            “Which is a nicer way to say we have smarter people.”

            Garoh finally sighed and she felt her mouth twitch at the corner, wanting to smile at their antics. Typical brother and sister. It seemed every species had their sibling antics. It made her miss Shannon even more. Once again she was separated from him because of these stupid missions. She shook her head and placed her head in her palms. When was all of this going to stop?

            “Troubled?” Garoh asked and she shook her head.

            “I can’t seem to catch a break.” She shrugged her shoulders, running her hand through her hair. “Sometimes I wonder if it was worth coming here.”

            “If you had reapers on their way. The answer was yes.” Irha said simply. “We have very unpleasant records of what the reapers did.”

            “Well, we might be wiped out here too. By your people.”

            She chuckled, “Yes, well, that is unfortunate, but probably true.”

            “Irha!” Garoh scolded her, “Stop it.”

            “Well, we don’t know what they will do. But we have a good idea of it.”

            He let out a sigh again and Emun leaned back in her seat. “I apologize for causing your people trouble. I never meant for it to be this way. We were just explorers, nothing more.”

            “You seem to have awful luck.” Irha said. The shuttle began to come to a stop and Emun could see the dust storms in the distance.

            “Is it bad living out in the desert?”

            “Not at all. There are havens out there. Green and water. We have plenty. Our city is centered around a large one. We live a little further away in the mountain side community. And it’s not very hot out here at all. We are a little higher up in altitude.” Irha told her.

            Once planted on the ground she waited for the siblings to go before she followed after them. She exited the shuttle to find them on a landing pad that was on a jutting part of the mountain. They had a whole city carved into the rocks, not unlike the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings. She imagined though that these Inusannon had an entire structure built into the mountain, and the means to keep it from collapsing. She’d come to learn already that nothing seemed impossible for these people.

            Once inside she found she was right, tall halls leading past a marketplace, Inusannon selling all kinds of goods. Irha stopped to buy a few things, and she followed after them. They weren’t staring as much as they were in the city.

            “Am I missing something?” Emun asked.

            “We already told our leaders about you.” Garoh told her.

            “You’re also lucky that our leaders didn’t want someone like you in their hands. Like my brother said, he volunteered to be the one to take you back from them. Something tells me he’s a little _too_ curious about you.” Irha teased her brother, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

            “Irha, stop.” He said, which furthered her laughter.

            “Where are you taking me? Am I your prisoner now?”

            “No. We’ve agreed to let you stay in our home.” Garoh told her. “You’re free to go, but you are safer with us for now than you are with your people.”

            Emun knew he was right. If she went back to the Nexus she risked them going back to find her and being more forceful about it this time around. She didn’t want to risk an outpost either. She really had nowhere to go, especially knowing how fearsome their technology was. No one had any way to combat them. At least they hadn’t figured that out yet.

            She looked around, various stores lined this hall and when they turned they were heading past doors that led to what she assumed were their houses or maybe calling them flats were more accurate. She wasn’t sure, but they had this structure figured out, and she could breathe with ease. They must’ve had a good ventilation system. She wasn’t surprised by any of this. Not anymore anyway.

            They led her up a stairwell and down another hallway where they stopped at a door. Irha placed her hand on a panel and it opened allowing them entry. There was a small living area, various electronics lining shelves. There was an open space on one of the walls, couches and various lounge items and she could see a kitchen towards the back. It was like walking into a typical flat on the Citadel or on the Nexus, and that’s what surprised her. It was all too eerily the same.

            “We are far more alike than I’m comfortable with right now.” She muttered and heard Irha laugh.

            “Would you rather us be that different? Your alien counterparts surely have stranger dwellings compared to us.”

            “Point taken.” Emun said.

            “We have an extra room. You can sleep in there.” Garoh told her.

            Irha slowly looked at Garoh and Emun grew curious. The Inusannon bore a confused look. “Are you sure?”

            He nodded, “It’s fine.” He told her. “We have food that should be compatible with your system. You can have your companion scan it and tell you I’m sure.” Garoh informed Emun and she nodded. She wasn’t thrilled to be the guinea pig on that front, but she was hungry, and no doubt she would have to suck it up soon. “The water from the spout is pure.” He pointed in the kitchen. “You can find a cup in the cabinets.”

            “Thank you.” She told them. “Again… I apolo—”

            “Human, if you’re going to keep doing that, it’s going to be a very long… However long this is going to be. Stop.” Irha told her.

            She nodded. “Emun. I don’t remember giving you my name.” She told them.

            “I remembered. Your brother said it.” Garoh told her. He beckoned her to follow him and once up the stairs to their top level he pointed at the ladder in front of them and the hatch it led to. “This leads to the top of the ridge. We are at the very top of it.” He walked to the right down a hall and led her to a door. “You may stay in here.” He told her and she nodded. “I will tell Irha to get you a change of clothes. The council will want to speak with you tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll be a better welcome than what you faced in Ilora.” He was about to turn to leave when she grabbed his wrist.

            “Garoh…” He stared down at her, seeming to study her as he had since they’d first met. “Thank you again.” He nodded, moving in closer to her and she stiffened, not sure what he was doing. He placed his hand at her shoulder and she’d almost forgotten he’d stuck that thing in her. He did something and she felt the release of the tendrils as he pulled it from her shoulder. She barely felt it this time, but felt the relief at it being gone.

            “We are similar indeed, for this to work.” He spoke, looking her over once more. “You are welcome, Emun.” He nodded and she watched him head back down the stairs. She blew out a sigh as she went into the room. This was definitely going to be a long ordeal.

 

\---

 

            Reyes couldn’t help but go into her quarters, settling himself down onto her bed and running his hand over the blanket on top of it. It wasn’t so long ago that they were in this bed, making love for the first time, and he felt those memories fondly. She had let herself go, trusted him to take the lead. She didn’t just jump into bed with anyone, didn’t just fall for anyone, and he was the one she had fallen for. It was so easy then… It seemed like a lifetime ago now.

            He hunched over, hands over his face as he breathed out a sigh. She was gone, again, and this time she was much further and in even greater danger than with the mission on Meridian. This new race… Shannon had explained who they were and it seemed way too farfetched to be true. The Inusannon from Ilos? From the Milky Way? Here all this time and hidden away from everyone.

            He couldn’t believe it, yet he’d seen them with his own eyes back on the Nexus. Seen them taking her down towards the docking bay and he’d tried to run as fast as he could, tried to get to their ship, but in an instant they were gone, and she was out of his reach. He wasn’t going to let the Tempest leave without him, he knew Shannon well enough by now to know that he wasn’t going to sit back and let them take her without a fight.

            He followed them on board, Kadara could wait and Keema had everything under control. They’d had a meeting in the cargo hold before they left. Everyone knew what was at stake and no one shied away from going. If it were any one of them, they all agreed that Emun would be leading the rescue mission no matter how dangerous it was.

            Then about the time they shoved off they all received a message. Everyone on board the Tempest had received the same message, but Shannon had received a more personal one, and then his showed up. He cursed himself for being so stupid. How could he not realize that it was something deeper, something that wasn’t just about him that had been bothering her. Shannon told him, he should’ve listened, but he was so blinded by his anger and pigheadedness that he got drunk too many times and let his vindictive nature take over.

            He wasn’t sure how she found out, but the glaring look on Peebee’s face was all he needed to know. The Asari must’ve been in Tartarus when he’d taken a nameless face back to his room. He felt disgusted with himself, and even though she had broken up with him, he still felt guilty.

            Her message had further dug the guilt in deep, and he teared up at reading it when he’d gotten it. He felt so stupid for not realizing, not asking her if she needed to talk about everything she’d gone through in Andromeda so far. He should’ve seen the shift in her demeanor, but he wanted to believe that everything was fine, that it was perfect. They were in love and nothing could go wrong.

            _“Mr. Vidal,”_ Reyes was startled when SAM’s voice rung out across the room. He’d almost forgotten the shining blue node over by her desk.

            “SAM? You’re able to still communicate?”

            _“Of course. I am able to function in multiple locations. Though my attention is focused on Emun at the moment.”_

            “Is she okay SAM? Can you tell me if she’s okay?” He got up and walked towards her desk.

            _“She was in danger. However, now she is with the Inusannon the crew first made contact with. They managed to take her from the ones who held her captive. I believe these two, Irha and Garoh, are far better for her to be with than the others.”_

            Reyes let out the breath he was holding. “She’s okay.” He said aloud to confirm with himself. “Do you have coordinates on where she is now?”

            _“Yes. I’ve forwarded them to Kallo already. I must be brief, Mr. Vidal, I need to keep my focus solely on Emun for now.”_

            “I understand… SAM, are you able to tell her we’re coming?” There was no response, and Reyes wasn’t sure if that meant SAM wasn’t listening any longer or if he just chose not to listen.

            In any case, he felt immensely better knowing that she was out of the hands of the ones that took her. Whether it meant she was in better hands remained to be seen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey aaaaall!!! I'm not dead I swear! :D And neither is this story, it's just this chapter kicked my ass along with an extreme case of self-doubt. I'm still not sure if I like this chapter, but these were ideas I had running through my head since the beginning, so I decided to stick with them! It's quite a smutty one, so hopefully it's alright and was worth the wait, though some people may hate me for it later xD Thanks to everyone who have read this story, and if anyone still reads it, Maker bless you for sticking with me through my long absence for this story ^^;; I love you all :3

            Shannon splashed some water into his face, they were heading to Ilos and he was growing more impatient, the Tempest going as fast as it could. It’d be a few more days till they’d make it there, and it worried him that Emun was already there, yet the worry had lessened slightly upon hearing where her coordinates were. She was with Irha and Garoh apparently, according to the message SAM had sent to Kallo and from what Reyes relayed.

            He didn’t have a good feeling about this, about any of this. Emun was gone, she was their Pathfinder, who would they look to now? Cora was stepping up, however he felt some responsibility as well. He wanted to lead, but he was scared of failing, just as he always had been.

            He stared down into the sink watching droplets drip down. Emun stepped up and saved his ass. Could he do the same for her? His fingers tightened on the edges of the sink, taking in a breath. He was feeling dizzy again, doing too much, and he was angry that after all this time he still couldn’t keep it together. He was afraid that if anyone found out that it was really this bad, they might ground him from any sort of exploratory missions. It drove him crazy enough as it was to sit back on the Hyperion and do nothing. He couldn’t keep doing it now.

            Fed up with the wallowing, he decided a different kind of dealing with his self-pity was needed so he wiped his face off and went to the kitchen to find a bottle of booze. Being drunk would also help him cope with the dizzy spells. It was flawed logic, clearly, and he knew that, but he didn’t care. He was angry at not putting up a fight back on the Nexus, and pissed off at the shitty circumstances he’d been granted so far.

            He swiped an expensive looking bottle of rum, trying to figure out a good place to be by himself, and realizing there weren’t many spots to slip to unnoticed; Reyes was probably depressing the hell out of Emun’s cabin at the moment. Drack would probably be back soon to inhabit the kitchen, and he didn’t know how much time he would have left to himself in the bunks. It _was_ getting late.

            He decided to go to the upper deck, or the meeting room; he’d be able to stare out at the stars as he let himself get shitfaced as no one really went up here. He popped open the bottle, only slightly guilty that it was brand new and drank a few pulls, feeling a soft but pleasant burn at the back of his throat. It was good rum, and the guilt began to waver the more he had and the better he felt.

            He didn’t know how long he sat there, blurred thoughts swimming, until someone had found his hiding spot behind the middle console.

            “Enjoying my rum?” He looked up and let out a groan.

            “Shite this was yours, Loma? Fuck… I figured it was Reyes’s.” He slightly slurred.

            He heard her chuckle as she sat down beside him. “What are you doing alone up here in the dark?”

            “Isn’t it obvious? Gettin’ shitfaced.” He went to take another swig when she pulled the bottle from his hands, drinking some herself.

            “It’s sad to drink alone. And rude to drink someone else’s liquor without them.”

            “Sorry ‘bout that.” He apologized again and she downed a few good drinks.

            “You doing okay?” She asked, and he shook his head.

            “Not really. My sister was taken by the most egotistical arseholes of alien kind, and I just… stayed back like a fucking coward.”

            “Shan,” She was frowning, “you did the right thing. If you had attacked them, we all might be dead.”

            He growled, fists clenching, but managed to calm himself down. “I just… I don’t want to fail her.”

            She nodded, “I know. We won’t. We can do this. If Emun could do what she did when she led the assault to save you, I’m pretty sure we can do this too.”

            “We’re not Emun… or my father. Or Shepard.”

            “Yeah, but we’ve got one stubborn Ryder still on board, and a somewhat distantly related Shepard not Shepard,” She smiled, taking another drink and shook her head. “This really is some good shit.” She laughed, then placed her hand over mouth. He hadn’t realized that the Tempest had grown so quiet.

            A smile twitched at his lips, he took the bottle back from her and drank again, letting her take it back to do the same. It wasn’t long before they were a fit of quiet laughs, trying their best to keep from disturbing anyone who might still be awake.

            “Then Graham fell through the damn floor!” Loma nearly snorted, and he was nearly wheezing at attempting to stay quiet.

            “How?”

            “I don’t know!” She leaned against his shoulder, her hand settled against his thigh and he wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but they found each other in a lazy kiss. The rum tasted even sweeter on her tongue as she kissed him back, and the haze was thick. She’d already opened the door for fun, right? So why not keep going if she wanted to?

            “What,” She breathed as his lips trailed down her neck. “what do you want to do?”

            He groaned, “Whatever you want.”

            “I meant,” She let out a sigh, “what do you want to do to me?” He stilled for a moment, brain catching up to him.

            “I want to fuck you,” He said, silently cursing himself for being so crass, but he was far beyond poetic words and that wasn’t who he was anyway.

            “Good, I want to fuck you too,” her lips found his again and he kissed her back. She was more than eager to pull his shirt off, and he reciprocated the best he could in his drunken stupor. It took them a moment to pull each other’s clothes off, but he laid over her naked body, kissing her back as they slowed down. It’d been awhile, a long while, and he had to admit even though he was drunk he was nervous about this, worrying that he was going to make a fool of himself.

            His hand slid up her side, feeling the heat of her body. She was a smart and tough woman, gorgeous, she didn’t share a partial blood line with Shepard for nothing. He groaned, not realizing he’d been sliding his length along her seam, and she let out a soft moan. He could feel her already wet, her slick on him. He shuddered, glad that the rum was slowing down his excitement. He didn’t know how long he would last otherwise.

            He slid his hand down between them, finger sliding over her clit and she arched, lips parting from his as she breathed a little harder. He sucked at her throat, tongue lazily slipping into the dip at her collar. Her fingers were digging into his back, and he captured her lips once more before he shifted, gripping himself and slowly sunk into her heat.

            “Shiiiit,” he dragged, listening to her soft whimper as he sunk in deeper. He felt the tight pull of her as he entered her, and he nearly let go right then and there. “You feel so good,” He groaned, sliding back out to thrust back inside of her. He cursed again, feeling her leg hook over his hip.

            He broke from kissing her, unable to keep that up when so many thoughts were swimming through his mind. Mostly ranging from a string of swearing to how good it felt to have her wrapped around his cock.

            “God, Shannon,” She gasped again when he thrust back inside of her. He was picking up speed, chasing that end through a sea of half fog. He finally received another order from his brain, and he touched her, finger worrying her clit so that she would come and he could follow right behind her. He felt her hand grip his jaw, forcing him to look at her, and he was sure he was drunk off his ass when he saw a faint blue glow to her hues.

            He knew his pace was probably erratic, he couldn’t help it at this point, but the way she was biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut as she met his hips took those worries from his mind. A few good strokes, another thrust, and he felt her hands on his ass, fingers digging into his flesh as he felt her squeeze his cock.

            He lost it, deep shudder running down his back as he tightly shut his eyes. He listened to a soft cry from her, her hand flying to her mouth as her warmth began to squeeze around him. He stuttered to a stop, grinding out every last drop of the pleasure consuming them.

            He felt the intensity, felt the rich reaction, and found her mouth to kiss the breath away from her once more. He ran his hand through her hair, feeling the softness against his fingers as he lazily worked her lips.

            “Fuck,” She finally breathed, arm over her forehead when he had to take his own breath as well.

            “Right,” He chuckled, barely able to hold himself over her and finally collapsed to her side.

            “Not bad,” She said with a light laugh and he snorted.

            “Thanks.” He could feel himself drifting off, Loma beside him, then felt her swatting his chest, rousing him from his half slumber.

            “We should go,” She told him, and he let out a groan. “Well, I’m getting up. I’d rather not be found naked by the crew.” She joked and he had to agree. He didn’t really want someone to roll up on him bare ass in the air for all to see. He heard her shuffling around, finally able to pull himself up and find his clothes. Once he’d dressed he followed her down the stairs, listening to her laugh when he stumbled into her.

            They had to manage their way down the ladder, and that was a feat in itself. Once down though he gave her a kiss that she returned in kind, smiling against his lips. “Hope you feel better,” She smirked.

            “Lot better, yeah,” He grinned, feeling her pat him on the cheek as she made her way for the bunks. He opted for the couch in Emun’s quarters, figuring Reyes was fast asleep at this point. He tried to be as quiet as he could, and was out like a light as soon as he hit the couch.

 

~~~

 

            “Well…. She could look worse,” Emun narrowed her eyes at Irha, yet she had to admit, the blunt Inusannon was somewhat growing on her. She didn’t sugar coat anything, and she appreciated that in a way.

            “Is it really that important? I’m practically wearing your rags.” Emun smarted back, and watched a smirk appear on Irha’s face along with a snort from Garoh.

            “You know what. I kind of like you, human,” Irha said, and beckoned for Emun to follow her. She did, not really having much other choice in these matters, and decided she needed to go along with this despite her better judgment. SAM had been silent on the matter, she assumed her AI companion was trying to lie low in case he was being tracked. She didn’t know what had him in such a fright, but ever since Osanin shut him off he’d been very quiet.

            _‘Merely observing, Emun. I am here if you need me.’_ SAM chimed in and she nodded to herself.

            Garoh and Irha led her to their ship, making their way to the oasis that was the resistance leader’s outpost. She couldn’t believe how much they’d built into these mountains. She wondered if the other Inusannon knew? Or if they did why hadn’t they attacked? With their technology maybe they’d developed a shield, one that she couldn’t see. She hadn’t paid much attention, but she wouldn’t doubt they could manage such a feat.

            “Who am I meeting?” She asked as they walked down a hall. This one was more polished than the community the siblings resided in. This one looked like it’d been here for centuries and had been worked and refined, like marble or smoothed granite lined everything.

            Garoh answered, hanging back to walk beside her, “Our council. I’m sure your visit was not pleasant with Oeset, but they are curious about you in a… nonviolent manner.”

            She snorted, “That’s comforting.”

            “Do not worry, we convinced them you were of no threat.” Irha stated flippantly, waving a hand and not looking back. “And that you could be valuable.”

            She narrowed her eyes and looked to Garoh who averted her gaze. “Valuable in what way?”

            “They want to know how you coexist with your artificial companion.” He was straightforward with her, she could give him that.

            She shrugged, “Even I barely know that.” She took in a breath to calm herself, she felt the anxiety of this visit and hated that it felt so close to the surface. She never had to deal with this, thought she was invulnerable to such things, but sometimes even those who didn’t face emotions like she could falter under the weight of all she’d gone through. She was slowly beginning to learn that, and she loathed that realization.

            They came to a chamber, one not unlike a grand hall back on Earth. It was open, but closed off if that made sense. No windows, nothing to grant weakness in case of an attack. There were three Inusannon sitting at a long table, a woman flanked by two men. The woman’s pallet matched that of Oeset and Osanin’s, deep charcoal, but with piercing green eyes nearly lost in the same deep void she’d seen on all Inusannon so far. There were white dots, as white as her long silken hair, adorning her cheeks in a line that swept underneath her eyes and to the corner. A thick line of the same color swept down her nose, a gold piercing at her chin that matched the gold in her ears.

            The men at her sides were of the bronze variety like Irha and Garoh. She was curious what their skin tones had meant, wondered if it was as simple as where they grew up as on Earth. These were things she assumed SAM was gathering quietly as she offered the questions and received no answer. It was unnerving now how quiet he’d become.

            “Greetings,” The woman offered, standing and bowing her head.

            “Hello,” Emun offered up, feeling small when she stood. She was roughly Garoh’s height, even taller than her two counterparts who stood with her.

            “I would like to greet you properly. The Earthen way.” She stated and Emun didn’t know how to handle how polite she was being.

            “Uh,” She stammered, “Well, there are many cultures, as I assume there are here… We generally offer up a hand to shake.”

            “Show me.” She said, and waited for Emun to respond.

            She extended her hand towards her, she did the same and Emun grasped her palm and squeezed, firm handshake as always like her father had taught her and felt her respond in kind. She gave her a shake and let go and the Inusannon seemed quite pleased.

            “I am Everin, leader of our sect. Though we have been separate for so long I would call us our own people.” Emun nodded until she saw the woman looking at her expectantly.

            “Oh, I am Emun Ryder. I hail from Earth, the Milky Way galaxy, the same as your former, and now the Nexus in Andromeda. It is our station, it houses other species not just humans.”

            “We have heard,” The man to her left spoke up. “I am Etoah.” He offered up his hand and she took it, doing the same when the other extended his arm.

            “Jerel. Garoh spoke of a few species he saw when they boarded your ship. We’d like to meet them someday as well, if your kind is not dangerous.”

            “They’re explorers,” Garoh spoke up. “Their vessel was not equipped for warfare.”

            She watched Everin nod. “A group of people actually interested in exploring and not conquering? That is a first.” She smirked.

            “I like to think we’re trying to learn from past mistakes on our own planet. We’ve helped the Angara with the Kett. I believe you know who the Angara are.”

            “We do,” She nodded, “I would have liked to have helped them in their plight, but we have our own issues to deal with.”

            “Yes, I’ve met them.” She spoke dryly and listened to their chuckle.

            “I take it they were not pleasant,” Jerel looked at her, sitting down in his chair and the rest did the same. They motioned towards the chairs across from them and Emun sat down as Garoh and Irha sat beside her.

            They looked her over and she pursed her lips as they seemed to be analyzing her. She wondered if they had that same internal communication as the other Inusannon and waited patiently.

            “Your anatomy looks quite similar to ours.”

            “I believe Earth had a similar climate to Ilos once had. Our studies showed that your planet was higher in oxygen than ours, yet it showed a lot of similarities.”

            “You’ve been to Ilos?” Etoah asked, even more curious than before.

            “No, not me. When a Reaper came, one of our own found Ilos and your ruins. I saw pictures.”

            “A Reaper? Just one?” Everin popped a brow. “I find it hard to believe only one had appeared.”

            “It was one. We don’t know if anything else happened though, I think our expedition was expedited before a full scale invasion happened. I don’t know their fate.”

            There was a collective breath that had been taken, and she couldn’t get over how their mannerisms sometimes matched. “I would not hold out much hope that your galaxy survived.”

            She looked down a moment, but then steeled her gaze when she looked back up at them. “If anyone could stop them, it was Shepard.” She nodded to them. “She found your ruins, another race, the Protheans left messages about a device they hadn’t finished.”

            “Then maybe there was hope yet,” Everin said. “We never looked back once we left. We had to leave many who could not make it. Some who refused to leave. We could not stop them in time. We could now.” She let the threat hang in the air, chilling as it was. It was a warning that they were certainly the top of the food chain in Andromeda. Either the Kett didn’t know they were here, or they were smart enough to leave them alone.

            “Do you know about the Jardaan?” She asked curiously. “The ones who created the Angara and the Remnant?”

            “Not much. They liked to play god.” Etoah answered.

            “We don’t know what happened to them.” Jerel also added.

            “You thought we were they,” Everin grinned.

            Irha was leaning back in her seat, glancing sideways towards Emun. “I already told her we weren’t.”

            Everin smirked, leaning forward. “Do you think highly of us?”

            “Perhaps, though you all seem to think highly of yourselves anyway so why shouldn’t I,” Emun chided them, watched them smile and listened to Irha snort.

            “Irha spoke of your blunt nature. Said you were more like us than the other humans accompanying you. What of them?” Everin asked, linking her fingers in front of her. She saw the white tattoo lined and dotted down her slender fingers.

            Emun took in a breath, letting it out slowly, “Knowing my stubborn brother, they are currently on their way here to try and stage a rescue. I told them I would endanger our people if I tried to leave.” She couldn’t help sounding defeated. Did she want to be here? If it were under different circumstances she would love to get to know these Inusannon at least and learn about all their tech; it was exciting. But with everything happening? She wanted to go back and sleep for days in her room on Meridian.

            “She _is_ selfless.” Everin said to Garoh. “You were right. He made quite the campaign to rescue you. He linked in to Osanin’s ship and took their information once they came back.”

            She looked towards Garoh, wondering if he’d seen her messages as well. She shouldn’t be surprised if he had, they probably had all hacked her omni tool without her knowing. She didn’t know why Garoh seemed so keen on helping her, but she was grateful nonetheless. She didn’t want to experience them shutting off SAM in torture just to make her talk about something they could probably easily glean from her tools.

            “I think we are done for today. You may go, Emun Ryder. You look weary still. We can discuss things further another day. Tomorrow? Or perhaps when your companions arrive?” Everin spoke, and Emun only nodded. She was still a little in awe at her patience, kindness even. She wondered if there was another agenda. Butter her up and make her like them in order to extract more information later. “You are wise not to trust us.” She nodded her way. “Pleasure to have met you, Emun.”

            “You as well, Everin.” She said evenly, standing once Irha and Garoh stood. “Etoah, Jerel.” She nodded to them too.

            “Irha, I’d like to discuss things further with you.” She told her, and she sat back down. Emun followed Garoh out, and he kept walking.

            “That was… Oddly easier than I had expected.” Emun said, catching up as he waited for her to walk beside him.

            He smirked her way, “We are not all as bad as Oeset and Osanin.”

            “No, you’re not. So far you haven’t threatened me with torture. I appreciate that,” She spoke dryly, listening to his soft chuckle. He seemed as though he was becoming more at ease with her.

            “Your brother and you were born at the same time?” He asked and she nodded. “He was extremely protective over you. I’m not surprised they’re coming back. It’s foolish.”

            “Shannon and I… We don’t exactly think things through when it comes to the other… Especially in Andromeda. He’s all I have left… Well… Our mother is… sort of alive.”

            A small, sad smile appeared on his lips; she was surprised to see some sort of emotion from him. “We are more similar the more we speak, Emun. My sister is all I have left now as well. We had a younger sister. She’s… no longer with us.”

            Emun didn’t want to ask details, it didn’t seem necessary. “I’m sorry.”

            “One more reason to fight back.” He responded.

            They chatted a little longer, mostly Emun asking questions about their society. There was order here, people bustling about, but a more lightness to these Inusannon compared to the ones in Ilora. They had a choice out in these parts, and though it wasn’t easy, they were better for it. She learned there were other Inusannon who flocked here if they could make it. It was another reason why they patrolled, to find the stragglers and lead them here. He said it was a risk, a gamble, but they had ways to tell if they were speaking truth about their flight from the big City.

            When Irha had returned they made their way back to their own town. She parted from them once more, and Garoh showed her what they had to offer in their smaller community. She was impressed by all of it, but she didn’t like to tell him that despite his pleasant nature so far.

            “You spoke of your mother,” He spoke up after a bout of comfortable silence. “How is she alive but not? If I understood your meaning correctly.”

            “It’s complicated. We thought she was dead, but before her illness could take her our father placed her in one of our cryopods and stowed her away on the Hyperion, our ship we used to get here. We only found out recently that she was still alive, but we still have no way to cure her.”

            “Interesting.” He said then let out a chuckle when she yawned. “Let’s go.” She didn’t object as she followed him back to their flat.

 

~~~

 

            Emun couldn’t sleep despite how weary she had been. Too much had happened and she wanted badly to contact the Tempest, but decided against it. It didn’t seem like a wise action, and SAM had told her that was partly the reason for his being quiet. He’d been communicating with the Tempest to let them know she was doing alright, and to let them know she had had a meeting with these Inusannon’s leaders.

            She didn’t really know what to say to them anyway, but she missed Shannon like hell again. After more tossing she left the room, listening and hearing quiet. Irha had left some time ago, and she wasn’t sure where Garoh was. He’d left after they ate and she was unaware if he’d ever returned.

            She had made her way onto the “roof” of their little flat. It was basically the top of the ridge, and it overlooked the dusty valley below, and the mountainous terrain behind her. She found her way outside, feeling the cold sinking into her skin beneath the clothes Irha had given her. There was a large flat pillow that was lying on the ground; she assumed one of them frequented this spot. She didn’t think to bring out a blanket, but she was content to stay out here anyway as she sat on the seat.

            She looked up at the night’s sky, or rather the deceptive view of it. Their forcefield was rather impressive the way it mimicked the actual sky. Maybe it showed what was really behind it, eliminating the scourge by projecting what it could and giving them a full view through reflection? She didn’t know, but it was fascinating, and she wanted to learn about all the different things they had to offer.

            She shivered a little, wrapping her arms around her legs, the pants that Irha had given her were a little longer than her legs and slipped below her heels. It was nice if she were to be honest, so often she still had trouble finding pants long enough for her own legs.

            She stared up at the artificial sky, one moon shining brighter than the other, and she saw the stars twinkling bright. If she didn’t know it was fake, she would never know, and it was still lovely to look at. She was startled a moment, hearing a loud faint scream in the distance. It must’ve been the husks Irha had spoken of. The shriek was certainly unnerving, but she stayed regardless, listening to the wind’s howl instead.

            The hatch lifted and she watched as Garoh popped up from the opening. He was carrying a couple blankets, sitting down beside her and handing her the other cover.

            “I come out here often.” He explained. “Sometimes for a while.”

            “You have it all planned out.” She responded, looking at him then up once more. “Does it bother you that your sky is artificial?” She asked.

            “No. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing the real one someday.” He said, looking up at the sky as well.

            She heard the scream again and looked to her right while Garoh’s eyes followed. “Does that bother you?”

            “Yes. Sins of my people. The lost and forgotten.”

            “I’m sorry.”

            “There are monsters within every people. Mine are no different. They are bored.” He stated simply.

            “Boredom shouldn’t be an excuse to experiment on your own people.”

            “Agreed. Are you an experiment?” He suddenly asked and she raised a brow at his question. “Your other being in you. It’s not natural.”

            “Oh, no he’s not. It’s a rather long story.” When she said that he was still looking at her, expecting her to go on so she figured why not. “My father researched artificial intelligence. It was illegal back in the Milky Way for many reasons. AI’s have been known to cause trouble.”

            “The Inusannon have toyed with this research once. However, it ended badly a long time ago as well.”

            “Well, so far it hasn’t for me. My father continued his research after my mum was diagnosed with her illness. He was hoping he would be able to cure it for her. We came to Andromeda and SAM, the AI… Well, things didn’t go right on our first mission. I almost died, so my father transferred his Pathfinder status to me. I was dead for a bit there, then they linked SAM to me and he was able to repair my damage.”

            “You speak of it like it’s real.” He said and she shrugged.

            “He’s grown on me I suppose. I hated feeling like there was someone else in my head, but… If he keeps me alive… I suppose I can cope with that.”

            “It’s strange.”

            “I know.” She agreed and stared at him a moment longer than she probably should have. He was handsome, even compared to human men. Different in some ways, but so similar in others. She felt a little drawn to him, almost wondering if finding someone with a similar mindset was to blame. Glancing down a moment she felt her cheeks heat up at the thought that went through her mind and immediately looked away from him.

            _‘Anatomically and biologically, the Inusannon are extremely similar to humans, Ryder. Through my scans I’ve found the Inusannon males do have a—’_

            “SAM!” She said out loud, immediately clamping her jaw. Her face heated up even more as she squeezed her eyes shut.

            “Having private conversations?” Garoh smirked, and she shook her head.

            “It’s nothing.”

            “Do all humans’ skin do that?” She froze when he placed his hand to her cheek, palm cupping and thumb tracing along her cheekbone. His fingers curled against her skull and neck and she felt something stir within her as she stared into his crystal blue eyes. Desire, it wasn’t something she felt often, and she pushed aside the soft pang of guilt. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his and he pulled back a moment in surprise. Before she could offer up an apology he pulled her back to his mouth and kissed her.

            She placed her hands to his chest fingers curling into his shirt. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she knew that she needed this right now. She tugged on his shirt, pulling him with her as she laid back against their seat and he eased over top of her. She felt so small compared to him; tall and shoulders broad. His forearms were set beside her, fingers curling into her hair as he eased his lips back down to hers. She flicked her tongue out to ease along his lower lip and he opened his mouth, touching his tongue to hers.

            She couldn’t believe she was doing this, especially with someone who wasn’t human, but it felt good, and she wanted more. He broke from their kiss, panting, looking down at her body. He started to pull her shirt up, hand touching her stomach. Her breath quickened as he ran his palm up her chest, in between her breasts after he snaked her shirt off with the other.

            The cold touched her heated skin, and he slid his hand over to slide his thumb over her nipple. She sucked in a breath and she could barely make out the blue of his eyes as he watched her writhing beneath him. He seemed to be thinking, until he placed his mouth over her hardened peak and sucked, and she bit her lip to keep from letting out a moan. She nearly slipped, almost whispering out Reyes’s name, but managed to keep it from leaving her lips. She felt the guilt hit her, till a small bitter part reminded herself that he’d already done the same and she pulled at his shirt until it was over his head and he moved to remove it from his arms.

            “How do your people… do this?” She uttered, ready to speed this along and becoming impatient. She wanted to feel that release, wanted to feel the pleasure wash over her.

            “Mostly impersonal.” He panted. “Used as a release. Procreate. We don’t often… kiss. Not like that. Or look at each other like you humans seem to do.”

            “How do you know that?” Emun looked at him, confused. A smirk pulled at his mouth.

            “Did you think we didn’t take anything from you when you let us on your ship? We took information.” He told her. “Your doctor had a lot of notes. I learned that we are more alike than different.” He brushed his thumb over her nipple again and she bit back the gasp. “You’re more sensitive. In more ways than one. Intimacy is favored; your people often couple in this position.”

            “What do you want to do with me then, Garoh?” She breathed, chest rising, nearly touching his.

            “I want you like this. If you want to do this.” He said, running his fingers into her hair and pulling her mouth back to his.

            He pulled away to look at her, waiting. “Yes,” She nodded. “I want this. Now.” She slipped the pants down her legs, setting them aside and he sat up to undo his own breeches. She felt her cheeks heat up more when she saw his hardened length. SAM was correct. He definitely had the appropriate anatomy and she swallowed as he leaned back over her. She felt him settle between her thighs and could feel him at her opening. She let him kiss her again, he seemed to enjoy it and she couldn’t deny that she was enjoying it as well. She felt the soft slide of his cock at her center, tip slick against her folds. “Garoh,” she breathed, reaching down to grip him and guiding him to ease inside of her. He began to slide in, feeling him slowly sinking deeper.

            She couldn’t help the moan that escaped her, and he grunted in response. His breathing was heavy, and he pulled out only to rock back inside of her. Her fingers dug into his back as she met his thrusts, and he captured her mouth with his, swallowing the soft moans she was letting go. It felt good, even though the little voice in the back of her head was trying to scream at her about adding more problems to the mix. It was far too late for that.

            She ignored it, couldn’t focus on anything except the slide of him hitting all the right spots. She felt his hand slide up her thigh, angling her hips as he thrust faster and she keened. It was almost too much, but she needed this, wanted this. She was almost there, and she looked up to see the stars before she felt the pleasure drop down, and she was seeing her own stars before her eyes. She squeezed him tight, tensing, then felt him stutter to a stop as he groaned, burying his head into her neck and breathing in. His hips were slowly rocking in and out of her until he caught his breath enough, kissing her a little longer. She welcomed it, until it started to not feel right and he must’ve sensed the shift in her as he moved from over top of her to lay beside her.

            “Are you alright?” He asked and she nodded running her hands through her hair and then sliding her palms down her face.

            “Yes…” She grabbed the other blanket and she offered him part of it.

            “Do you often say what you do not mean?” He asked as he pulled the blanket over the both of them and laid his arm out beside him offering it up to her. She moved closer and settled her head on his bicep and she watched him gazing up at the sky.

            “Yes…” She finally answered him and he actually let out a huff as he smirked. “Why… why did you do this with me?” She asked, listening to the chuckle that left him.

            “You needed the release… I wanted to know what it felt like with another race. You’re quite striking.”

            “Oh.” She felt her cheeks heating up and listened to the soft rumble of his laughter. She hadn’t expected that he’d be that curious enough to want to sleep with her, and that she was striking. That must’ve been what it felt like when humans felt inquisitive about other species. She’d never been attracted to them, but Garoh was different in that he was more like a human compared to the other species they’ve encountered.

            “Your face is warming up again.” He looked to her and she caught the blue of his eyes. “You’re thinking of someone else.” He said.

            “How do you know?”

            “I’ve seen that face too many times before.” He answered.

            “I… yes… you’re right. I broke his heart, because I was overwhelmed with everything happening… I couldn’t… be around him. I love him, but I... don’t know how to love him…”

            “Love…” He breathed out, cold air puffing above them in a cloud.

            “Do the Inusannon not love?”

            He shrugged, “It is not about deep devotion. It’s about pleasing oneself or to populate. The former is far more common.”

            “It always is.” She said and he chuckled once again. She ran her hand into his sand tinted hair and found herself moving to kiss him, but no matter how much she kissed him now he didn’t feel like Reyes and it only made her miss him further. She felt a soft tug of her hair as he pulled her away from him.

            “You love another,” He said to her. “Perhaps you should fix it and not try fill the hole with something empty.”

            She let out a sigh, knowing he was right, but he pulled her back to his lips despite his words. He leaned onto his side, gathering a better angle as he kissed her further. She trailed her hand down his chest, but after a moment he broke their lip lock, and she almost thought it was reluctantly. She couldn’t read him, much like how people couldn’t read her most of the time. She thought to offer her apologies, but what for? It meant nothing more than curiosity and a need to scratch the itch. She reached for her clothes as he dressed himself, and she did the same.

            Thoughts were beginning to touch her more, guilt starting to plague her about lying with him, though that small bitter part of her thought she was just evening the score, the other part of her didn’t want to hurt Reyes more than she had despite him doing the same.

            “Don’t think so much about it.” He said, smirking her way. “I know it really meant nothing for you.” She watched him descend back down the hatch and she blew out a sigh. She didn’t want to have this talk with Reyes, but she knew she had to if they were ever going to mend what she had broken to begin with.


	7. Chapter 7

            “Wake up,” Shannon felt the smack of a pillow to his face and the sound of Reyes’s voice as he finally came to, mind hazy and head throbbing just a little. Thoughts of the previous night returned to him and he smiled to himself before he tossed the pillow from his face. “You were snoring.”

            “Mmhm,” Shannon groaned, the artificial light in the cabin causing him to squeeze his eyes shut.

            “I see you got shitfaced last night,” Reyes chuckled as he sat down at Emun’s desk, resuming whatever it was that he was doing. “Did you finally get yourself laid?”

            “What? How’d you know?” Shannon quickly looked over to him, immediately regretting the motion. Reyes turned his head and smirked. “Shite… Fuck off, shady bastard.”

            “You are an easy mark, my friend.” Reyes chuckled again, tapping away at the keys.

            “What are you doing? If you mess anything up, Emun’s gonna be pissed at you.”

            “She’s already pissed at me, I hardly believe anything else I do will make it worse at this point,” the lighthearted tone disappeared from his voice, and Shannon felt bad. He knew his sister was difficult, and he also knew she was bottling up a lot of shit that she didn’t want to talk about. That was going to change. He was going to be there for her like he promised himself he would be. He was trying to grow up, but found himself still slipping, still struggling with his own insecurities.

            Before that damn Habitat-8 mission he was going to be assigned to go on a few missions when he could with Loma’s scout team. He wanted so badly to help them find more viable resources to create new medicine that he’d nearly begged Tann for the opportunity. He wanted to be the one to help find a cure for their mother. He missed her so much, and to have her so close yet so far away was agonizing.

            Their mother wasn’t without her own blame when it came to neglect. More often than not he and Emun had to fend for themselves on the Citadel while C-Sec babysat them the other half of the time. Usually he was the one that led them into trouble and Emun followed to look after him. He had to be better. He _wanted_ to be better.

            It still burned. He was so excited to join the Alliance, felt for once that their father was proud of him for managing to achieve some level of discipline, and when they were both accepted into the N7 program he felt like things were finally going his way, until dad royally fucked them over for any chance at advancement. They were immediately shut out of the N7 program, and he was angry. So angry. He knew he shouldn’t have said the shit to their father that he had said, but he couldn’t help it. Finally for once he was doing something right, and for once he wasn’t the one to fuck it up.

            Shannon didn’t necessarily _want_ to come to Andromeda, but it was the only chance he saw at starting over. He didn’t want a mediocre life back home after a failed military career. He wanted to do something important with his life. Emun had told him what Reyes had said. That he came here to _be someone_ , and Shannon felt much the same.

            “I think you’ll work it out,” he said quietly, listening to the soft taps on the keyboard stop; Reyes was still. “You’re good for her. Most guys were afraid of Em. The others that did show interest just thought she was hot and wanted to fuck her. Treated her like some sort of game to win first, but because Emun is Emun she was curious even knowing their intentions… But you… I dunno what it is about you, but yeah… You’re good for her. You work in some weird ass way, but I’ve never seen her that happy.”

            Reyes was quiet, back still turned and rigid until he saw his shoulders sag. “I broke her heart. I wasn’t there for her when I should have been.”

            “Yeah, well… Neither was I. I’m her fucking brother, I should have known she was bottling it all up, but I just thought… I didn’t think it was that bad.”

            He listened to Reyes let out a sigh, “I didn’t think it was that bad either…” He finally swiveled around in the chair, facing him. “She may have ended it with me, but I broke us…”

            “It can be fixed. You didn’t cheat on her.” Shannon watched Reyes roll his eyes. “Look, I know my sister, she’s certainly not like other women. She’s an analytical asshole. She knows that you both were broken up when it happened.”

            Reyes leaned his forearms onto his thighs. “You didn’t see the look in her eyes…”

            Shannon shrugged, “Trust me. If you want to fix it, don’t give up.”

            “I do want to fix it. More than anything.”

            “Yeah, so… Relax.” He saw Reyes smile a little, running a hand through his hair. He’d let it grow out a little on the sides and back, and Shannon assumed the King of Kadara had been too busy to keep up the suave appearance. Or maybe it was more simple and that he didn’t need to keep up appearances when he had Emun and everything on Kadara going so smoothly. Well almost smoothly. He had heard talk about control of Kadara being returned to the Angara, and knowing how his sister felt on that issue… That wasn’t exactly good for their relationship either.

            “So how’s Kadara?” Shannon asked as the silence spanned between them. Reyes had begun typing on the computer once more.

            “Probably transitioning over to the Angaran leadership at this point.”

            Shannon grimaced. “I’m sorry, mate…”

            “I saw it coming… I chose to ignore it. I had also hoped that Emun would have given me her support on the matter.”

            “Ouch, so you did talk about that?”

            Reyes stopped, then started again. “More like yelled…”

            “Honestly, what does it matter?”

            Reyes let out a sigh, “It matters because I worked hard to build what I have. I don’t want to just let it all go away.”

            “Then why not come out of the shadowy depths and… I dunno, work with the Nexus on it? You could lead the Outpost. I mean you practically already do that too.”

            “It isn’t that simple, and I prefer the shadows.”

            “Why? So that way when shite goes wrong you can let your figurehead take the blame?” Shannon glanced back over to Reyes when he stopped what he was doing again. “Gotta grow up some time like the rest of us, yeah? You’re a leader, Vidal, might want to step up and show everyone that it’s been you all along doing it. And doing it right.”

 

~~~

 

            They’d finally made it to the outskirts of Ilos, already having assembled the shuttle for the ground team. They had all decided that it was in everyone’s best interest to let only a few go first, and leave the heavy metal for backup. They were all in agreeance that there was a possibility that the Inusannon may not be equipped to handle a Krogan warrior like Drack, to which the old man chuckled in glee.

            So he, Loma, and Reyes opted to be the first ones in and everyone understood why, not fighting them on this decision. Reyes helmed the shuttle, showing off his prowess behind the controls. He was even skilled at maneuvering through the scourge of the planet. Shannon was glad that he wasn’t the one dealing with this. He had minimal training in piloting a shuttle back in the beginning of his Alliance career, but switched rather quickly to something else.

            They’d finally broken through the clouds, and he could see the look of concentration break on Reyes’s face as they looked across the expanse of the world. If Shannon wasn’t so bitter about their first encounter he would agree this was an amazing place. Something didn’t feel right though, and Shannon unbuckled his belt to lean forward looking out into the sky.

            “What’s wrong?” Reyes asked, and Shannon shook his head.

            “I expected an unfriendly greeting.” He replied.

            “Yeah, same,” Loma chimed in from behind.

            “Do you _want_ to jinx our good fortune so far,” Reyes asked.

            Something pinged on the dash, an incoming message, and Reyes hit the comm button. _“Did you humans not learn your lesson the first time?”_ A voice taunted, and Shannon recognized it as the same one who’d taken Emun.

            “Shite,” he cursed, and the shuttle rocked from a minor blast.

            “Might want to belt in,” Reyes said to them while the shuttle began to hit more turbulence.

            The Inusannon were toying with them, sending out minor shockwaves and Reyes was clutching the controls tightly, trying to maneuver past them. His warning to hold on through gritted teeth was all the warning Shannon and Loma needed and he sat in the co-pilot’s seat while he glanced to make sure she strapped in to a seat in the back. She was looking at the chair however, then glanced back up to see him staring at her.

            “Loma, what are you doing? Strap in!” He told her.

            “I can help… I think I can anyway.” She said, shaking her head.

            “What are you talking about? We’re probably going to crash!” He was about to get up when she gave him a look. She put on her helmet and before he could get up, she was creating a shield with her biotics that extended out beyond the ship. She said she hadn’t trained much with it, not believing that she was a very good biotic to begin with, and he could see the strain it was putting on her already.

            “Loma stop! You’re going to kill yourself!” He yelled and was about to unhook his belt when Reyes grabbed his arm.

            “Don’t you dare do that.” He told him, quickly returning his hands to the controls. “I’m not letting anything happen to you on my watch.”

            He frowned, the intent behind that was clear. He didn’t want anything to happen to him, because Emun would be even more heartbroken. Shannon growled to himself, “Fuck this,” He unhooked his belt and quickly got up before Reyes could grab him again, making his way toward Loma. She was straining already and he could see it taking its toll on her.

            “Shannon!” Reyes barked, “Shannon, god damn it, belt yourselves in!” He yelled from up front.

            He ignored the man, heading to Loma and grabbing her as she fell forward, he held onto her tightly, and the subsequent blast was almost immediate. The back of the shuttle was torn off and the last thing he saw was the fleeting form of the shuttle as they were sucked out and flying into the air.

 

~~~

 

            Reyes let out a groan, head aching, and he brought his hand up to find a swath of dried blood from his forehead down to his jaw. His ribs hurt as he tried to breathe and he finally shook himself from his stupor as he looked to see the glass in front of him busted, bits still falling when it loosed itself. The shuttle was facing a downward angle, he could see rocks in front of him, and then a downslope that wasn’t too high up, but high enough to cause concern. He needed to get out; he feared the shuttle would slide down this small cliff and he’d be in for another crash.

            _“Reyes, come in. Reyes, damn it come in!”_ He shook his head slowly, Cora’s voice coming in past the ringing in his ears. _“Are you okay? Is everyone okay?”_

            He grunted, undoing the belt keeping him from falling forward, and he wasn’t able to hold himself before he slammed his chest into the console. The shuttle groaned slightly, and he cursed himself as he reached back for the chair. He was able to stand, still holding onto his seat. He finally looked back and saw the back end of the shuttle gone and he cursed once more.

            “Tempest?” He answered back.

            _“Reyes, is that you? Are you injured? What happened?”_

            “I believe we were shot down.” He told her, slowly making his way to the side of the shuttle so he could help pull himself out the back. He was also heading for the weapons locker. “We were being shot at by something, we couldn’t see it. The next thing I know we were going down. Loma tried to shield us with her biotics, but it didn’t last long, they were able to get through, and we crashed. I’m going to find them. You should stay back for now.”

            _“Find them? What do you mean find them?”_ Reyes shut his comm off for now, and grabbed a rifle and pistol, as well as a survival pack from the locker before he was able to get out of the back. It took him a while, but he was able to scramble his way down the rocks. He was looking out at the dusty and windy expanse. They shouldn’t have been extremely far from the coordinates Kallo had given them, but he wasn’t so sure where they were at right now, and he was more focused on finding Shannon and Loma. They better be okay. He couldn’t stand the thought of having to tell Emun what happened if not.

            He could barely see, so he put his helmet on so he’d be able to walk around without getting dust in his eyes. He couldn’t see any figures in the distance, but he saw big pieces of debris from the shuttle. He figured that was the best place to start so he went in that direction. He looked up at the sky, it looked normal, and he wasn’t able to see the scourge. These people definitely had some superior technology if they were able to block out the effects of the scourge as well as create their own sky. The sun even looked real, which was slowly setting in the direction he was heading.

            He got to the wreckage when the sun had finally set, wind still howling around him, and becoming more blustery. There was no one here, and he cursed himself.

            “Shannon, come in. Can you hear me? Loma?” He tried the comms again but wasn’t getting anything. “Shit…” He wasn’t sure what to do, but he knew he had to do something. It was times like these he really wished he had a fancy AI to help him out. He leaned against a piece of the shuttle and opened up his omni tool. Perhaps he could locate heat signatures. There was a chance he could be close to them.

            He had nothing so far, and so he started to follow pieces of the wreck until the darkness was fully set upon him, and the sky had clouded up giving him no extra light to go off of. It was dark, and his night vision setting in his helmet was the only thing helping him. He looked around, finally spotting a heat signature and hoping that was someone.

            He stilled for a moment before he continued forward; a shrill scream in the distance had travelled his way. That didn’t sound right, nor did it sound good, but it didn’t sound like Loma, so he hoped it wasn’t one of them in pain.

            _“What the fuck was that?”_ Reyes heard in his comm and it sounded like Shannon and that he’d just woken up.

            “Shan? Are you okay?” He heard him groaning.

            _“Yeah, think so. Head hurts… What happened? What was that noise?”_

            “I don’t know. Do you see anything around you?”

            _“No… It’s a little too dark for that.”_

            “I’m aware of that. Just checking. Turn on your locator—”

            _“Way ahead of you, buddy.”_ Shannon said, and he got a location for his coordinates and found he wasn’t too far from him. He turned in the direction he was supposed to be, and he finally saw heat signatures. Problem was, he saw multiple, and he didn’t know how far those others were. But they were slow.

            He began to run towards that direction as quickly as he could. His body ached, but the adrenaline was starting to pick up. _“Shite… Something’s breathing around me.”_ He heard Shannon relay, and he tried to quicken his pace. The last thing they needed was surviving the crash only to encounter hostile animals that took them out.

            “Turn on your night vision.”

            _“Yeah, wish I would’ve thought of that first, Reyes.”_ He heard his sarcastic reply. _“That’d be pretty grand, but I don’t have a helmet.”_ He grimaced, how the hell was he able to survive the crash? It had to have been Loma.

            “I think Loma might be close to your location.”

            _“The thoughts crossed my mind. Wouldn’t be alive otherwise.”_ Another shrill scream sounded in the air, and it was a lot closer, but he heard the echo of it in his open comm to Shannon.

            _“Fucking hell! Get the fuck away from her!”_ He heard Shannon say, then his stomach churned when he heard an agonizing cry, unmistakable that it was Shannon’s. He was close, and once he’d gotten on the scene he could see some very large and gangly creature tearing at the armor on Shannon’s back.

            He didn’t want to shoot, not wanting to risk hitting Shannon and what he assumed was Loma underneath him, so he settled on instinct. He tackled the creature, trying to hold onto his rifle, but it fell so he settled on a few punches at the creature’s face. Everything was happening so fast, he was on his back, claws were tearing at his chest. He was glad he put on some of their initiative armor, because his definitely would’ve been shredded in an instant. However, he could feel the tears, a claw digging across his flesh above his pec and he tried to kick the monster away from him.

            He heard gunshots ringing out extremely close, and he rolled out of the way so Shannon could get a better shot. It screamed again, piercing their ears, but Reyes scrambled up so he could pull out his pistol and began to shoot at it too. Shannon probably wasn’t able to see very well. He got by his side, and without a word they switched weapons, and Reyes tagged the creature. It’s long limbs looked human enough, but it looked distorted, thinner, extremely tall. He couldn’t make out distinctive features, but it was almost as if it was a malformed version of the Inusannon he saw on the Nexus.

            It began to limp away, his bullets not seeming to do enough damage, but it was enough that it was scared of their weapons. Reyes looked to see Shannon fumbling around in the dark, and finally settling down next to Loma.

            “Are you okay, Shan?” He asked.

            “Yeah, think it tagged my back though.”

            “Is Loma alright?” He asked and made his way to her other side. Shannon was removing her helmet, and the grace of moonlight was finally upon them. She looked okay aside from the trickle of blood leaving her nose and ears.

            “I feel a pulse,” Shannon breathed, and Reyes kept on the lookout.

            He looked at the coordinates of their position on his omni tool and then compared them with Emun’s last location. “We’ve got to move.”

            “I know, but where?”

            “To Emun.”

            Shannon let out a sigh, “I don’t know if you know this, Reyes, but we got a man down, and we’re not in the shape to move!”

            “I know that! But what else are we supposed to do? We can’t stay here, it’s far too dangerous!” He barked at the young man.

            They heard a groan come from the ground. “Mm, I’m fine. I can do this.” They watched her lift her arms, reaching for something, and Shannon stooped down.

            “Hey, hey lie still. You been out for a while.”

            “My head hurts…” She responded.

            “I imagine so. Might want to get some more training in before you try that again, yeah?” He joked and she grunted in response.

            “Cute, Ryder… Help me up.”

            “You should stay—”

            “Shut up, and help me sit up, please.” Loma grunted, already trying to push herself to sit up anyway.

            Reyes would’ve chuckled if he wasn’t in defense mode, and he kept his eyes and ears open as he watched. Maybe now they’d be able to move. Loma seemed about as stubborn as Emun, so maybe that would work in his favor to get them up and moving in Emun’s direction.

            “Anyone got water?” She groggily asked, and Reyes tossed the bag he had down on the ground.

            “There should be some in there, it was the only other thing I could quickly grab in the shuttle.” He listened to them rummage around in the pack, but he also heard something else. It was the unmistakable hum of a shuttle; he’d been around them far too long to not recognize that sound, but there was nothing around. He hoped it wasn’t the group that had taken Emun from him, but he couldn’t see anything except the dust beginning to blow up around them in a pattern that would be comparable to a shuttle landing. “Be ready,” Reyes told them.

            Whatever had been cloaking it had dissipated and from what he could see it looked pretty impressive. He saw an Inusannon in the pilot’s seat, it looked like a male, and then the hatch opened and he saw her. His heart beat quickly and he tore off his helmet. When she saw him she stopped for a moment, but he didn’t care what was going on between them. He made his way straight for her, pulling her face to his and settling his lips against hers. She kissed him back, and he finally broke away from her, breathless, but he saw something in her eyes as she swallowed hard.

            “I’m sorry,” He breathed, stroking her cheek with his thumb, wanting to feel her skin against his, but he still had his suit on.

            “Me too.” She said, looking away from him. She spotted Shannon in the light from the shuttle and he let her go so she could go to him. He watched the twins embrace and he smiled, glad that he could at least give her this moment. He was able to keep Shannon safe, like he’d promised himself he would for her.

            After their hug she pulled away from him, quickly getting to work helping Loma up. Reyes was about to come over but she told him she had her, and he nodded as he looked around. Another scream echoed out in the distance and he was on alert once more as Shannon and Emun got Loma onto the shuttle. He backed away with them on board, and the hatch closed as they got inside.

            They settled Loma onto the floor and Reyes took a moment to look around. It seemed standard, certainly larger on the inside to accommodate their height. He could see the Inusannon at the controls, steadily lifting them off and heading wherever it was they were going.

            “Why didn’t you tell us where you were?” Shannon asked before Reyes could.

            “I told you not to come here.” She responded evenly.

            “Like you would’ve followed your own directions, sis.” He smarted off and Reyes could only nod to himself. Emun would’ve certainly come after any one of her crew mates if they were in danger; secretly he hoped she’d still do the same for him.

            She seemed to ignore her brother’s quip however. “It’s far too dangerous for you to be here. The Nexus could be in danger. Do you realize who shot you down?”

            “We had to take that risk…” Reyes muttered. “We couldn’t leave you behind.”

            “Yeah,” Shannon agreed, “Leave no man behind. We may not be Alliance anymore, but we’re not about to leave you to this fate.”

            “We would’ve figured something out…” She said, but she didn’t sound so sure.

            He swallowed hard, wondering if she had just planned to stay here in hiding if it came down to that. He wanted to talk to her, alone, but he wasn’t sure if he’d have that opportunity.

            It was much later into the night, but Reyes was still up watching Emun fuss over Shannon while her Inusannon friends tended to Loma. He wanted so badly to talk to her, now, but he tried his best to be patient. Finally Garoh was showing Shannon and Loma to a room while Irha retired to her own bedroom, leaving he and Emun alone.

            “Can we talk?” Reyes asked her, and she nodded.

            “Yes… I’ll patch you up.” He looked down, forgetting that he had a decent gash across his chest. He followed after her to the room after she’d grabbed a few things, and she ushered for him to sit in the chair near a desk. Before he could do it, she began to peel away his chest plate, clasps already having been broken, making it easier to remove. His upper arms were bare finally, and he pulled off his gauntlets and let them fall to the floor. There was something she didn’t want to say, but it was something he could see she wanted to tell him.

            “Are you okay?” He asked her.

            “Define okay…” She mumbled, and he stood, placing his lips to her forehead. Before he could lower his lips to hers, she gently urged him to sit back down.

            “I’m sorry…” He said, “I just…”

            “It’s alright,” She answered, tugging his shirt up and over his head. She grabbed the rag she had wetted, wiping off the blood on his face then moved to wipe off the blood that was on his chest and he wanted nothing more than to make her stop so he could just… Kiss her senselessly. He fought his desires, his longings, and let out a frustrated sigh.

            “You can talk to me, Emun… I’m sorry if you didn’t think you could before.” She dabbed another cloth in something and when she wiped it over the long gash he sucked in a breath.

            “It’s not that I didn’t think I could… I didn’t know how to. And I didn’t want to hurt you.” He snorted, not meaning to, but she nodded in agreeance to his small protest. “I know… I told you I wasn’t good at this.” She dipped her thumb in a tin full of some sort of paste and smeared it across his wounds, a cooling tingle beginning to dull the pain and dry over it. She wiped her hands clean on another rag.

            “You should’ve told me about… Everything. I can handle it.” He insisted. “I would have listened.”

            She nodded, and before she could move away he gently grabbed her hips and held her in place as he looked up at her.

            “I’m sorry I slept with someone else… Can you forgive me for it?” He asked. He saw something torn in the look on her face, and he cursed himself for getting that drunk, being that stupid.

            “Only if you can forgive me… for doing the same thing.” She swallowed hard again and he felt his gut wrench. She slept with someone else? _Emun_ actually slept with someone else?

            “What do you mean?” He frowned. “Who?”

            She pursed her lips, “It doesn’t matter. It happened…” He let go of her hips, running his hand through his hair.

            “Before or after I did?” He needed to know.

            “After.” That made it more difficult.

            “Is he… Do you want him now?”

            She shook her head, “No… It meant nothing.”

            “Then why?” He asked.

            She shrugged stepping away. “I just needed… A release I guess. I don’t know, Reyes.” She let out a frustrated sigh and he sat back in the chair.

            “Where does this leave us?” He finally asked.

            “I don’t know. I’m not… Well.” She finally admitted.

            He reached for her, pulling her back to him when he stood. He ran his hand into her hair, pulling her head to rest against his shoulder as he hugged her to his body. He breathed her in, she smelled different, but then there was the touch of the smell that was her. He missed that smell, missed her.

            “Emun, this isn’t something you can take lightly.” He told her, trying to get past the hurt that she would rather sleep with someone to make herself feel better than him. He knew he couldn’t fault her though, but it still hurt. He set that aside however, focusing on her PTSD. “You have to talk to someone about what’s happened in Andromeda. If it’s not me, then Shannon or Lexi. _Someone_.”

            He finally felt her arms wrap around his back. “There may not be a chance for that if these other Inusannon have their way…” She muttered, and his heart stilled.

            “What do they want from you?”

            “They want to know how SAM and I are able to coexist.” She shrugged, “And they’re pissed that we found them I guess.”

            He was quiet, still holding her. “I miss you, Emun,” he said, squeezing his arms around her tighter. “Tell me what to do to make this better.” He pulled back, cupping her face in his hands. He could see tears welling in her eyes and that scared him more than anything. She steeled herself though, easing in to press her lips to his. He broke from her, looking into her eyes. “Baby, tell me what you want.”

            “I want us to be like we were before,” her lips were back on his and he couldn’t help himself. She was moving him back towards the bed and he was powerless to stop her. He wanted her so badly, and if she wanted to feel good like this then he would do everything he could to satisfy her. He knew it wouldn’t be enough, they had so much more they had to work through, but if this was what she wanted right now, he wasn’t going to deny her.


End file.
